Sharon Fichman

Fichman, who is Jewish, was born and raised in Forest Hill in Toronto, Canada.^[3][4] She is a citizen of both Canada and Israel.^[4] Her parents, Julia and Bobby, emigrated from Romania to Israel in 1982, and then to Canada in 1989.^[4] Bobby was a semi-pro tennis player, and is now a nuclear engineer. Her mother is a computer engineer and also a tennis fan.^[4]

Fichman started playing tennis at the age of four,^[5] and won her first tournament at six.^[6] By age 13, she was the world No. 2 player under-14.^[7] In 2004, at the age of 13, she was Canada's Under-18 Indoor & Outdoor National girls champion, and also won the doubles title with partner Mélanie Gloria. In 2006, Fichman and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova dominated doubles at the Grand Slam juniors by winning the Australian Open and French Open. At the 2006 Juniors US Open, Fichman reach the quarterfinals in singles and came close to capturing her third Grand Slam title in doubles with a finalist showing. She lost in the finals of the Canadian Open Junior Championship in both singles and doubles. She attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, a public high school, which she graduated from in July 2008.^[8]

Fichman's idol at the beginning was Belgian tennis player Justine Henin.^[6]

2005 edit

In 2005, Fichman won the gold medal in women's singles at the 2005 Maccabiah Games in Israel, at the age of 14. She defeated Israeli Julia Glushko in the semifinals^[9] and 23-year-old Nicole Ptak of the United States in straight sets in the final. "I represented my religion and my country", she said after beating Ptak. "These Games are not just all about sports but meeting people, learning about culture and building friendship. Being the No. 1 Jewish female tennis player in the world is also not too shabby."^[10] Fichman also won a bronze medal in the women's doubles, and wrapped up the event with silver medal in mixed doubles. She was also Canada's flag-bearer at the Games.^[10]

2006–10 edit

In October 2006, while still 15, she beat world No. 114, Hana Šromová. In August 2007, at the age of 16, Fichman beat world No. 90, Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro of France in Toronto. She finished 2007 with a singles record for the year of 16–8. In October 2008, 17 years of age, Fichman beat world No. 137, Jelena Pandžić. She finished 2008 with a singles record for the year of 25–16. In January 2009, she won the singles title at the Ace Sports Group Tennis Classic tournament in Lutz, Florida dropping only one set, and also won the doubles title with Kimberly Couts.

In April 2009, she won the Osprey, Florida tournament. Fichman reached the $100k Biella Challenger singles final in September 2009, but lost to Petra Martić.^[11] In February 2010 at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Fichman defeated her first top-50 player when she beat world No. 40, Sorana Cîrstea, in the first round. She also won two $100k doubles titles in July 2010 (in Biarritz and in Pétange).^[12][13]

2011–12 edit

In January 2011, Sharon won her first tournament of the year, the $25k in Plantation, by defeating Alexandra Cadanțu in the final. At the Copa Colsanitas WTA tournament, she reached the second round but lost to Catalina Castaño, despite having two match points in the second set. In July, she won her second tournament of the year at the $50k event in Waterloo, where she defeated Julia Boserup.

In July 2012, Fichman won the Waterloo Challenger for the second straight year with a win over Julia Glushko in the championship match. She won in September the $25k in Mamaia, defeating Patricia Maria Ţig in the final.

2013 edit

At the end of January, Fichman won the eighth singles title of her career at the $25k event in Port St. Lucie, with a victory over Tadeja Majerič.^[14] In August, she lost the final of the $100k Vancouver Open to Johanna Konta but won the doubles title alongside Maryna Zanevska.^[15] A week later at the Rogers Cup, she reached the second round for the first time of her career in singles after defeating compatriot Stéphanie Dubois in her opening match. She also made it to the semifinals in doubles with fellow Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, after an upset over first seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. They were eliminated by Jelena Janković and Katarina Srebotnik.^[16]

At the US Open, Fichman qualified for her first-ever Grand Slam main draw with a victory over Alexandra Panova.^[17] She lost to world No. 22, Sorana Cîrstea, in the first round.^[18] In September, Fichman made it to the Premier Mandatory main draw in Beijing with wins over Paula Ormaechea and Yaroslava Shvedova in first and last round of qualifying, respectively. In the main draw, she was eliminated by Galina Voskoboeva in the first round.^[19]

2014 edit

At the first tournament of her season, the Auckland Open, Fichman qualified and upset world No. 22, Sorana Cîrstea, in the first round to record the second top-50 win of her career (she also beat Cîrstea in 2010). The same week, she won her first WTA doubles title alongside Maria Sanchez with a victory over Lucie Hradecká and Michaëlla Krajicek in the final.^[20] In February, at the $100k in Midland, Fichman scored her third top-50 win when she beat world No. 45 Urszula Radwańska to reach the semifinals. She was defeated by Ksenia Pervak in the next round.^[21] At the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in late February, Fichman upset world No. 39, Yvonne Meusburger, in her opening match to advance to the second round. She lost to Caroline Garcia in her next match.^[22]

At the beginning of March, she qualified for the Premier Mandatory Indian Wells Open and defeated Shahar Pe'er in the first round. She was eliminated by world No. 10, Sara Errani, in the second round.^[23] In May, Fichman reached her first singles final of the season at the $100k Open de Cagnes-sur-Mer, where she won the biggest tournament of her career so far with a victory over Timea Bacsinszky.^[24] At the French Open in May, Fichman earned direct entry in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, but was eliminated in the opening round by world No. 7, Jelena Janković, in three sets.^[25][26] At Wimbledon, Fichman was defeated by Timea Bacsinszky in the first round.^[27] At the US Open, her first tournament after having knee surgery at the end of July, she lost to world No. 5, Agnieszka Radwańska, in the opening round.^[28][29]

2015–16 edit

In August 2015 at the Rogers Cup, Fichman reached the quarterfinals in doubles with compatriot Carol Zhao.^[30]

She played a match at the $100k event in Trnava in May 2016, losing in the qualifying second round to Ágnes Bukta, and was inactive for nearly two years thereafter,^[31] claiming injuries, mental fatigue and a growing interest in broadcasting and coaching made her decide to take a break from playing.^[32]

2018 edit

In April 2018, Fichman returned to the pro circuit at age 27, playing in doubles at the $60k event in Indian Harbour Beach. She reached the quarterfinals with partner Jamie Loeb.^[2] Fichman credited her return to fiancé Dylan Moscovitch suffering an accident that cut off his chances of qualifying to the 2018 Winter Olympics, making her decide to take up tennis again and rise enough in the rankings to attend the 2020 Summer Olympics and bring Moscovitch along.^[5]

2021: First Grand Slam doubles quarterfinal, WTA 1000 title, Olympics edit

In May 2021, Fichman won the first WTA 1000 and biggest title in her doubles career at the Italian Open, partnering with Mexican player Giuliana Olmos. In the final, they defeated the pair of Kristina Mladenovic and Markéta Vondroušová who were making their debut playing together. They had entered the tournament as alternates and defeated top seeds Hsieh/Mertens and the Japanese fourth seeded duo Aoyama/Shibahara en route to the championship match.^[33][34] As a result, she entered the top 40 in doubles for the first time in her career at No. 31.In February, Fichman and Olmos also reached their first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2021 Australian Open. Fichman managed to qualify for the Olympic tennis tournament, partnering Gabriela Dabrowski, and the 2021 WTA Finals.^[35]

2022–23: Best doubles ranking, extended two years hiatus edit

She reached a career-high ranking in doubles of No. 21 on 17 January 2022.

She sat out of the 2022 WTA Tour and the 2023 WTA Tour to recover from 2021's injuries, in the meantime joining Sportsnet and its team of tennis commentators.^[36]

Fichman is an aggressive counter puncher, and is known for her tenacity as well as her feistiness on the court.^[6]

WTA 1000 tournaments edit

Doubles: 1 (title) edit

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	2021	Italian Open	Clay	Giuliana Olmos	Kristina Mladenovic Markéta Vondroušová	4–6, 7–5, [10–5]

Doubles: 8 (4 titles, 4 runner-ups) edit

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	May 2009	Estoril Open, Portugal	International	Clay	Katalin Marosi	Raquel Kops-Jones Abigail Spears	6–2, 3–6, [5–10]
Loss	0–2	Feb 2011	Copa Colsanitas, Colombia	International	Clay	Laura Pous Tió	Edina Gallovits-Hall Anabel Medina Garrigues	6–2, 6–7(6–8), [9–11]
Win	1–2	Jan 2014	Auckland Open, New Zealand	International	Hard	Maria Sanchez	Lucie Hradecká Michaëlla Krajicek	2–6, 6–0, [10–4]
Loss	1–3	May 2019	Nuremberg Cup, Germany	International	Clay	Nicole Melichar	Gabriela Dabrowski Xu Yifan	6–4, 6–7(5–7), [5–10]
Win	2–3	Jul 2019	Baltic Open, Latvia	International	Clay	Nina Stojanović	Jeļena Ostapenko Galina Voskoboeva	2–6, 7–6(7–1), [10–6]
Loss	2–4	Feb 2020	Mexican Open, Mexico	International	Hard	Kateryna Bondarenko	Desirae Krawczyk Giuliana Olmos	3–6, 6–7(5–7)
Win	3–4	Mar 2020	Monterrey Open, Mexico	International	Hard	Kateryna Bondarenko	Miyu Kato Wang Yafan	4–6, 6–3, [10–7]
Win	4–4	May 2021	Italian Open, Italy	WTA 1000	Clay	Giuliana Olmos	Kristina Mladenovic Markéta Vondroušová	4–6, 7–5, [10–5]

Doubles: 1 (runner–up) edit

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Nov 2019	Houston Challenger, United States	Hard	Ena Shibahara	Ellen Perez Luisa Stefani	6–1, 4–6, [5–10]

Singles: 22 (9 titles, 13 runner–ups) edit

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Nov 2005	ITF Ashkelon, Israel	10,000	Hard	Pemra Özgen	6–1, 6–1
Loss	1–1	Dec 2005	ITF Ramat HaSharon, Israel	10,000	Hard	Margalita Chakhnashvili	3–6, 6–7(4)
Loss	1–2	Jul 2007	ITF Hamilton, Canada	25,000	Clay	Stéphanie Dubois	2–6, 2–6
Loss	1–3	Jul 2007	ITF Calgary, Canada	10,000	Hard	Ana Veselinović	2–6, 1–6
Loss	1–4	Jul 2008	Waterloo Challenger, Canada	25,000	Clay	Alexandra Mueller	3–6, 3–6
Loss	1–5	Jan 2009	ITF Boca Raton, United States	25,000	Clay	Gabriela Paz Franco	4–6, 6–7(4)
Win	2–5	Jan 2009	ITF Lutz, United States	25,000	Clay	Lauren Albanese	6–4, 7–6(5)
Win	3–5	Apr 2009	Osprey Challenger, United States	25,000	Clay	Yuliana Fedak	4–6, 1–6
Loss	3–6	Sep 2009	Internazionali di Biella, Italy	100,000	Clay	Petra Martić	5–7, 4–6
Win	4–6	Jan 201	ITF Plantation, United States	25,000	Clay	Alexandra Cadanțu	6–3, 7–6(2)
Win	5–6	Jul 2011	Waterloo Challenger, Canada	50,000	Clay	Julia Boserup	6–3, 4–6, 6–4
Win	6–6	Jul 2012	Waterloo Challenger, Canada	50,000	Clay	Julia Glushko	6–3, 6–2
Win	7–6	Sep 2012	ITF Mamaia, Romania	25,000	Clay	Patricia Maria Țig	6–3, 6–7(5), 6–3
Loss	7–7	Sep 2012	ITF Sofia, Bulgaria	25,000	Clay	Cristina Mitu	4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Loss	7–8	Oct 2012	ITF Troy, United States	25,000	Hard	Stéphanie Dubois	6–3, 4–6, 3–6
Loss	7–9	Oct 2012	ITF Rock Hill, United States	25,000	Hard	Rebecca Marino	6–3, 6–7(5), 2–6
Loss	7–10	Nov 2012	Toronto Challenger, Canada	50,000	Hard (i)	Eugenie Bouchard	1–6, 2–6
Win	8–10	Jan 2013	ITF Port St. Lucie, United States	25,000	Clay	Tadeja Majerič	6–3, 6–2
Loss	8–11	May 2013	Wiesbaden Open, Germany	25,000	Clay	Yvonne Meusburger	7–5, 4–6, 1–6
Loss	8–12	Aug 2013	Vancouver Open, Canada	100,000	Hard	Johanna Konta	4–6, 2–6
Win	9–12	May 2014	Open de Cagnes-sur-Mer, France	100,000	Clay	Timea Bacsinszky	6–2, 6–2
Loss	9–13	Aug 2015	Winnipeg Challenger, Canada	25,000	Hard	Kristie Ahn	2–6, 5–7

Doubles: 40 (21 titles, 19 runner–ups) edit

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Nov 2007	Toronto Challenger, Canada	25,000	Hard (i)	Gabriela Dabrowski	Maria Fernanda Alves Christina Wheeler	6–3, 6–0
Loss	1–1	Oct 2008	Challenger de Saguenay, Canada	50,000	Hard (i)	Gabriela Dabrowski	Katalin Marosi Marina Tavares	6–2, 4–6, [4–10]
Loss	1–2	Jan 2009	ITF Boca Raton, United States	25,000	Clay	Kimberly Couts	Alina Jidkova Darya Kustova	4–6, 2–6
Win	2–2	Jan 2009	ITF Lutz, United States	25,000	Clay	Kimberly Couts	Story Tweedie-Yates Mashona Washington	6–4, 7–5
Win	3–2	Nov 2009	ITF Rock Hill, United States	$25,000	Hard	Anna Tatishvili	Lauren Albanese Jamie Hampton	7–6(5), 4–6, [10–3]
Win	4–2	Nov 2009	Phoenix Tennis Classic, United States	50,000	Hard	Mashona Washington	Marie-Ève Pelletier Anna Tatishvili	4–6, 6–4, [10–8]
Loss	4–3	Nov 2009	Toronto Challenger, Canada	50,000	Hard (i)	Mashona Washington	Maureen Drake Marianne Jodoin	3–2 ret.
Win	5–3	Jul 2010	Open de Biarritz, France	100,000	Clay	Julia Görges	Lourdes Domínguez Lino Monica Niculescu	7–5, 6–4
Loss	5–4	Jul 2010	Contrexéville Open, France	50,000	Clay	Jelena Dokić	Nina Bratchikova Ekaterina Ivanova	6–4, 4–6, [3–10]
Win	6–4	Jul 2010	ITF Pétange, Luxembourg	100,000	Clay	Monica Niculescu	Sophie Lefèvre Laura Thorpe	6–4, 6–2
Win	7–4	Nov 2010	Toronto Challenger, Canada	50,000	Hard (i)	Gabriela Dabrowski	Brittany Augustine Alexandra Mueller	6–4, 6–0
Loss	7–5	Jan 2011	ITF Lutz, United States	25,000	Clay	Gabriela Dabrowski	Ahsha Rolle Mashona Washington	4–6, 4–6
Win	8–5	Apr 2011	ITF Jackson, United States	25,000	Clay	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Eva Hrdinová Natalie Piquion	7–6(1), 7–6(3)
Win	9–5	May 2011	Charlottesville Open, United States	50,000	Clay	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Julie Ditty Carly Gullickson	6–3, 6–3
Win	10–5	May 2011	ITF Raleigh, United States	50,000	Clay	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Beatrice Capra Asia Muhammad	6–1, 6–3
Loss	10–6	Jun 2011	ITF Boston, United States	50,000	Hard	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Tetiana Luzhanska Alexandra Mueller	6–7(3), 3–6
Win	11–6	Jul 2011	Challenger de Granby, Canada	25,000	Hard	Sun Shengnan	Viktoryia Kisialeva Nathália Rossi	6–4, 6–2
Loss	11–7	Apr 2012	Dothan Pro Classic, United States	50,000	Clay	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Eugenie Bouchard Jessica Pegula	4–6, 6–4, [5–10]
Win	12–7	Jul 2012	Waterloo Challenger, Canada	50,000	Clay	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Shuko Aoyama Gabriela Dabrowski	6–2, 7–5
Win	13–7	Jul 2012	Challenger de Granby, Canada	25,000	Hard	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Shuko Aoyama Miki Miyamura	4–6, 7–5, [10–4]
Loss	13–8	Oct 2012	ITF Troy, United States	25,000	Hard	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Angelina Gabueva Arina Rodionova	4–6, 4–6
Loss	13–9	Oct 2012	Saguenay Challenger, Canada	50,000	Hard (i)	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Gabriela Dabrowski Alla Kudryavtseva	2–6, 2–6
Win	14–9	May 2013	Wiesbaden Open, Germany	25,000	Clay	Gabriela Dabrowski	Dinah Pfizenmaier Anna Zaja	6–3, 6–3
Loss	14–10	Jun 2013	Nottingham Trophy, United Kingdom	75,000	Grass	Gabriela Dabrowski	Maria Sanchez Nicola Slater	6–4, 3–6, [8–10]
Win	15–10	Jul 2013	Waterloo Challenger, Canada	50,000	Clay	Gabriela Dabrowski	Misa Eguchi Eri Hozumi	7–6(6), 6–3
Win	16–10	Aug 2013	Vancouver Open, Canada	100,000	Hard	Maryna Zanevska	Jacqueline Cako Natalie Pluskota	6–2, 6–2
Loss	16–11	Feb 2014	Midland Tennis Classic, United States	100,000	Hard (i)	Maria Sanchez	Anna Tatishvili Heather Watson	5–7, 7–5, [6–10]
Loss	16–12	May 2014	Open Saint-Gaudens, France	50,000	Clay	Johanna Konta	Verónica Cepede Royg María Irigoyen	5–7, 3–6
Loss	16–13	Jun 2014	Nottingham Trophy, United Kingdom	75,000	Grass	Maria Sanchez	Jocelyn Rae Anna Smith	6–7(5), 6–4, [5–10]
Win	17–13	Oct 2014	ITF Rock Hill, United States	25,000	Hard	Cindy Burger	Despina Papamichail Janina Toljan	4–6, 6–1, [10–6]
Loss	17–14	May 2015	Grado Tennis Cup, Italy	25,000	Clay	Katarzyna Piter	Viktorija Golubic Beatriz Haddad Maia	3–6, 2–6
Win	18–14	Aug 2015	Winnipeg Challenger, Canada	25,000	Hard	Jovana Jakšić	Kristie Ahn Lorraine Guillermo	6–2, 6–1
Loss	18–15	Oct 2015	Challenger de Saguenay, Canada	50,000	Hard (i)	Maria Sanchez	Mihaela Buzărnescu Justyna Jegiołka	6–7(6), 6–4, [7–10]
Win	19–15	Oct 2015	Toronto Challenger, Canada	50,000	Hard (i)	Maria Sanchez	Kristie Ahn Fanny Stollár	6–2, 6–7(6), [10–6]
Loss	19–16	Jan 2016	ITF Daytona Beach, United States	25,000	Clay	Carol Zhao	Natela Dzalamidze Veronika Kudermetova	4–6, 3–6
Win	20–16	Apr 2016	ITF Jackson, United States	25,000	Clay	Jarmila Wolfe	Yuki Kristina Chiang Lauren Herring	6–2, 6–3
Loss	20–17	Oct 2018	Challenger de Saguenay, Canada	60,000	Hard (i)	Maria Sanchez	Tara Moore Conny Perrin	0–6, 7–5, [7–10]
Win	21–17	Oct 2018	Toronto Challenger, Canada	60,000	Hard (i)	Maria Sanchez	Maja Chwalińska Elitsa Kostova	6–0, 6–4
Loss	21–18	Dec 2018	Pune Championships, India	25,000	Hard	Valeria Savinykh	Beatrice Gumulya Ana Veselinović	6–7(4), 6–1, [9–11]
Loss	21–19	Apr 2019	Chiasso Open, Switzerland	25,000	Clay	Jaimee Fourlis	Cristina Bucșa Marta Kostyuk	1–6, 6–3, [7–10]

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up) edit

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	2006	Australian Open	Hard	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	Alizé Cornet Corinna Dentoni	6–2, 6–2
Win	2006	French Open	Clay	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	Agnieszka Radwańska Caroline Wozniacki	6–7(4), 6–2, 6–1
Loss	2006	US Open	Hard	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	Mihaela Buzărnescu Raluca Olaru	5–7, 2–6

Singles edit

Doubles edit

Record against top-50 players edit

Fichman's win–loss record (4–7, 36%) against players who were ranked world No. 50 or higher when played is as follows:^[37]
Players who have been ranked world No. 1 are in boldface.

• Sorana Cîrstea 2–1
• Urszula Radwańska 1–0
• Yvonne Meusburger 1–0^{[nb 1]}
• Agnieszka Radwańska 0–1
• Maria Kirilenko 0–1
• Bethanie Mattek-Sands 0–1^{[nb 2]}
• Kiki Bertens 0–1^{[nb 3]}
• Jelena Janković 0–2

* statistics as of March 7, 2016

• List of select Jewish tennis players

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sharon Fichman.

• Sharon Fichman at the Women's Tennis Association
• Sharon Fichman at the International Tennis Federation
• Sharon Fichman at the Billie Jean King Cup
• Sharon Fichman at Wimbledon
• Sharon Fichman at Olympedia
• Sharon Fichman at Olympics.com
• Sharon Fichman at Team Canada