Silvia Farina Elia

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**Silvia Farina Elia**

Country	Italy
Residence	Rome, Italy
Date of birth	April 27, 1972 (1972-04-27) (age 36)
Place of birth	Milan, Italy
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7+¹⁄₂ in)
Weight	62 kg (140 lb/9.8 st)
Turned pro	1988
Retired	October 24, 2005
Plays	Right
Career prize money	$3,688,252
Singles
Career record:	469-370
Career titles:	3
Highest ranking:	11 (May 20, 2002)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	4R (2004, 2005)
French Open	4R (2001, 2002)
Wimbledon	QF (2003)
US Open	4R (2002)
Doubles
Career record:	269-255
Career titles:	8
Highest ranking:	No. 9 (November 13, 2006)
Infobox last updated on: October 12, 2007.

Silvia Farina Elia (born April 27, 1972 in Milan, Italy) is a retired female tennis player from Italy. She reached a career high of World No. 11 on 20 May 2002. She won her first ITF title at Caltagirone in 1991 and her first WTA tournament at Strasbourg in 2001. She made her début Grand Slam appearance at the 1991 French Open and was coached by husband Francesco Elia, whom she married September 1999.

1 Career
2 Personal life
3 Titles (12)
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Career

Farina Elia made steady progession on the ITF circuit during the early 1990s and finished her first year in the top 100 in 1991. She completed her first victory over a top ten player (Gabriela Sabatini, Roland Garros) in 1994 and won her first doubles title the next year. In 1996, she represented Italy at the Atlanta Olympics. 1998 was considered her breakthrough year, reaching the final of four tournaments and in the process securing a place in the year end top 20. She was 26 at the time and thus considered a "late bloomer". She only reached one singles final in 1999 but made a greater impact in doubles, winning three tournaments.

In 2001 Farina Elia won a belated first WTA Tour title, at the Internationaux de Strasbourg. She ended the year #14, what was to be her best year end finish and played in the WTA Tour Championships of 2001 and 2002. She consolidated the Strasbourg win with two more wins at the tournament. In 2003 she achieved her best Grand Slam result at the unlikely venue of Wimbledon, home of her least favourite surface, losing to Kim Clijsters, 7–5, 0–6, 1–6 in the quarterfinals.

Farina Elia represented the Italy Fed Cup team at nine Federation Cups and also represented Italy at three Olympics.

On Monday October 24, 2005 she announced her retirement from the WTA Tour due a recurrence of a shoulder, saying, "My body has given all it can."^[1]

[edit] Personal life

Farina Elia began playing tennis aged 10; introduced to the sport by her mother who played recreationally. Her parents are both insurance agents, as is her sister, Olga. Her brother, Enrico, restores furniture. She married Francesco Elia on September 22, 1999 and described the prospect of life after tennis as "exciting".^[2]

[edit] Titles (12)

[edit] Singles (3)

Legend
Grand Slam (0)
Tier I (0)
Tier II (0)
Tier III (3)
Tier IV-V (0)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	26 May 2001	Strasbourg, France	Clay	Anke Huber	7–5, 0–6, 6–4
2.	25 May 2002	Strasbourg, France	Clay	Jelena Dokić	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
3.	24 May 2003	Strasbourg, France	Clay	Karolina Šprem	6–3, 4–6, 6–4

[edit] Singles finalist (10)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	21 July 1991	San Marino	Clay	Katia Piccolini	6–2, 6–3
2.	11 January 1998	Auckland, Australia	Hard	Dominique van Roost	4–6, 7–6(9), 7–5
3.	26 April 1998	Budapest, Hungary	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	6–4, 4–6, 6–3
4.	19 July 1998	Warsaw, Poland	Clay	Conchita Martínez	6–0, 6–3
5.	1 November 1998	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Carpet (i)	Mary Pierce	6–0, 2–0 ret.
6.	14 February 1999	Prostějov, Czech Republic	Carpet (i)	Henrieta Nagyová	7–6(2), 6–4
7.	7 January 2001	Gold Coast, Australia	Hard	Justine Henin	7–6(5), 6–4
8.	17 January 2004	Canberra, Australia	Hard	Paola Suárez	3–6, 6–4, 7–6(5)
9.	22 February 2004	Antwerp, Belgium	Hard (i)	Kim Clijsters	6–3, 6–0
10.	10 April 2005	Amelia Island, USA	Green Clay	Lindsay Davenport	7–5, 7–5