Shahar Pe'er (born May 1, 1987, Jerusalem) is an Israeli professional tennis player. Her career-high singles ranking is World No. 11, which she achieved on January 31, 2011.
Her best Grand Slam singles result has been reaching the quarter-finals at the 2007 Australian Open and the 2007 US Open. She has also reached the Women's doubles final at the 2008 Australian Open with Victoria Azarenka. Pe'er has won five WTA Singles titles and three WTA Doubles titles. As of January 31, 2011, Pe'er is ranked World No. 11 in singles and No. 22 in doubles.
Pe'er plays a "counterpuncher" style. Her forehand uses a semi-western grip, which makes her good in facing big top-spin opponents. Her backhand is two-handed and is one of the best on the women's tour. It is consistent and finds various angles throughout the court. She loves to take lots of points with the inside out shot on her backhand. She had a kick serve that lacked the drive needed to penetrate deep, but she changed it to more of a slice serve, which works great for her now and even generates aces. She has a good volley and doesn't have a problem going to the net. During matches, she often turns her back to her opponent between points, faces the back of the court, closes her eyes and tries to wipe the mental slate clean.
Pe'er was seeded 17th at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open. She had a first round bye before defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6–2, 6–2 to advance to the third round. Here, Pe'er knocked out the ninth seed Flavia Pennetta 6–4, 6–7(4), 6–2. In the fourth round, she lost to the eventual champion Jelena Janković 6–2, 6–2. At the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, Pe'er made it to the third round before being heavily defeated by World No. 16 and eventual champion Kim Clijsters 6–0, 6–1.
Pe'er is 21–12 in Fed Cup matches for Israel in 2002–09, having won 13 of her last 16 singles matches. She tasted victory again in 2009 beating both the Bondarenko sisters of Ukraine in Kharkiv. However, Israel fell short in the series 2–3 losing in the decisive doubles match.
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