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Kirrily Sharpe (born 25 February 1973) is a former professional tennis player from Australia.

Biography[edit]

Sharpe, a left-handed player from Sydney, trained with the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.[1] She was a member of the Australian team which won the 1988 World Youth Cup, now known as the Junior Fed Cup.[2]

While still only 17 she competed in the main draw of the 1990 French Open as a qualifier and scored an upset win over 14th seed Raffaella Reggi, en route to the third round.[3] She also competed in junior grand slam events that year and made three finals. At the 1990 Wimbledon Championships she was runner-up to Andrea Strnadová in the girls' singles and was also a losing finalist in the girls' doubles, partnering Nicole Pratt. She won the girls' doubles title at the 1990 US Open with Kristin Godridge. The same pair won a WTA doubles title at the 1990 Open Clarins in Paris.

A knee injury suffered early in 1991 kept her out for the most of the year and required a reconstruction.[4]

Sharpe made the third round of the 1992 Australian Open as a wildcard, with wins over Silke Meier and Anna Földényi.

In her only singles main draw appearance at Wimbledon in 1993 she had a first round match up with world number one Steffi Graf, who beat the Australian 6–0, 6–0, losing only 18 points in the process.[5]

She retired from professional tennis after the 1996 season.

WTA Tour finals[edit]

Doubles (1–0)[edit]

ITF Finals[edit]

Singles (7–0)[edit]

Doubles (13–16)[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "School's in as pupils cane the teachers". The Canberra Times. ACT, Australia. 1 January 1991. p. 14. Retrieved 27 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "Starlets retain NEC Cup". The Canberra Times. ACT, Australia. 20 November 1988. p. 13. Retrieved 27 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Beefy Argentine gives troubled Sanchez a tri-star lesson". The Canberra Times. ACT, Australia. 2 June 1990. p. 68. Retrieved 27 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Newcomer to meet Graf in 'nervous' first-round showdown". The Canberra Times. ACT, Australia. 22 June 1993. p. 22. Retrieved 27 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Steffi sharp to show Kirrily the door". Herald Scotland. 23 June 1993. Retrieved 27 May 2018.

External links[edit]

  • Kirrily Sharpe at the Women's Tennis Association
  • Kirrily Sharpe at the International Tennis Federation