Women

Born in Minsk, Belarus, she turned professional in 2004, having started playing tennis at the age of six when her mother introduced her to the sport. Her favourite surface is clay and considers her backhand to be her best shot. At 6ft she is won of the taller players on the circuit and makes use of her height with a powerful serve. As a junior she idolised Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati. Most of her earlier years were spent on the ITF Circuit where she competed in both the singles and doubles play. In 2006 she made her WTA debut at Tashkent, losing in the first round to Rodionova. In 2007 she made her breakthrough season by finishing inside the top 50 for the first time after playing her first full season on the WTA Tour, which was highlighted by reaching the semi-final at Tashkent. She also reached the quarter final stages at Cincinnati, where she defeated America's Jill Craybas en route before losing to number three seed Sania Mirza, and also at Stanford and Quebec City. In Grand Slam play she made her debut at Wimbledon after successfully qualifying but lost to eventual finalist Marion Bartoli. At the US Open later in the year she reached the second round again but lost to number three seed Jelena Jankova. On the ITF Circuit she went on to reach four finals, winning two events at Jackson where she defeated Melissa Torres Sandoval in the final and also in her home tournament in Minsk where she defeated Eva Hrdinova in a tightly contested final.

Born in Moscow, she moved to Lyon at the age of eight months old with her parents and now represents France through earning citizenship. In her early days she spent six years at Nick Bollettieri's tennis camp in Bradenton, Florida and is currently coached by former world number one Mats Wilander, having previously been coached by Brad Gilbert. She turned professional in 2002 and made her breakthrough in 2004, when she reached her first WTA final at Birmingham and reached the fourth rounds at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. During the season she went on to represent France in the Fed Cup helping her country to defeat Italy in the quarter finals, Spain in the semi-finals before falling to Russia in the final. In doubles play she went on to win Roland Garros with Richard Gasquet to become the youngest champions in 23 years, with a combine age of 33 years. In 2005 she finished in the top 30 for the second consecutive year, highlighted by reaching the final in Tokyo but unfortunately had to retire due to injury against Nicole Vaidisova. She also went on to reach five semi-finals on the WTA tour on four different surfaces. In 2006 she reached her first Grand Slam quarter final at the US Open, losing to eventual champion Maria Sharapova. Her best season to date was in 2007 when she won her first two WTA titles at Amelia Island and Portoroz, as well as notching five top 10 wins and finishing in the top 20 for the first time. During the season she defeated Veus Willaims, Ivanovic and Kuznetsova and looks set to be a competing force in 2008.

Having started playing at the tender age of four with her parents at a local tennis club it became clear that her future lies in the sport. As a junior the Romanian finished runner-up at the prestigious Orange Bowl in 2000. The baseliner turned professional in 1999 and considers clay to be her favourite surface. Starting out she played largely on the ITF Circuit and won her first titles in 2000 when she won her first singles and doubles title in her homecountry at Budapest. In 2002 she made the main draw at Casablanca, reaching the second round before losing to Zakopalova. Her Grand Slam debut was to come in 2003 when Gallovits successfully qualified for Roland Garros before losing in the first round to Suarez. She continued to build on this success in 2004 and qualified for her debut at Wimbledon, making an early first round exit to Bovina. Her breakthrough season came in 2007 when she finished in the top 100 after spending her first full season on the WAT tour. In Barcelona she reached her first WTA final, defeating number five seed Dominguez Lino, number four seed Kanepi and number seven seed Razzano en route before losing to Megan Shaughnessy. She became only the second Romanian in seven years to reach a Tour final after Cirstea at Budapest in 2007. She also went on to reach the quarter final at Bali, losing to fellow Romanian Cirstea in a tightly encountered third set. In Grand Slam play she played in all four majors for the first time in her career. At Roland Garros she reached the second round, losing to number fifteen seed Peer and made an early first round exit at the remaining three tournaments. The Romanian also reached the second round at Palermo and Bad Gastein.