Ashley Harkleroad

About Ashley Harkleroad

Ashley Harkleroad (born May 2, 1985), is an American tennis player. Born in Rossville, Georgia, Harkleroad reached a career-high ranking of No. 39 on June 9, 2003. She is currently ranked 61 in singles and 168 in doubles, as well as 68 in the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships. Her career prize money to date is $927,881

Ashley Harkleroad turned pro on June 12, 2000, and was quickly billed as the next American tennis superstar. Her debut was at the ITF tournament in Largo, Florida, in 1999. The following year she played her first WTA qualifying event in Miami, Florida and her first Grand Slam at the U.S. Open. In 2001, she returned to the same events while improving her status on the ITF Circuit. In 2002 she won her first tour matches, reaching the second round at San Diego, Hawaii, and Bratislava, where she made her first doubles semi-final with partner Maria Emilia Salerni. She ended 2002 in the top 200 for the first time.

Her breakthrough year was in 2003, when at Charleston she defeated three top 20 players at the time (No.16 Elena Bovina, No.19 Meghann Shaughnessy, and No.9 Daniela Hantuchová), losing just 11 games along the way to reach her first tour semifinal before losing to Justine Henin-Hardenne. She became the lowest-ranked semifinalist (No. 101) in the event's history since unranked Jennifer Capriati reached the finals in 1990.