Dianne Fromholtz

Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat was born on the 10th of August, 1956 in Albury, Australia. She started her professional career in 1973 and announced retirement in 1990. She holds 15 singles titles but unfortunately n Grand Slam title.

She reached a career-high point of No.4 on the 19th of March, 1979. She was the Finalist in the French Open in Jan 1977, in which she lost to Kerry Reid and managed to reach the Semi-Finals of the French Open in 1979 and 1980 and the Semi-Finals of the US Open in 1976. In Wimbledon, she managed to qualify for the Quarter Finals in the year 1979 and 1987.

In the women’s Doubles matches, Balestrat won one Grand Slam title in the Australian Open in 1977 when she beat Betsy Nelson and Kerry Reid paired with Helen Gourlay Cawley. In the Women’s Mixed Doubles games, Balestrat managed to reach the finals of the Wimbledon in 1980 in which paired with Mark Edmondson she lost to Tracy Austin and John Austin.

Besides the Grand Slam, Balestrat won the Australian hard courts title, the surrey Hard Courts, The Turkish open, The New Zealand Open, The Kent Open, and The Tasmania title in 1973. She also won the Scottish open, the Sacramento, the Pheonix, and The Dallas title in 1974, along with winning the Futures Tallahassee and the Australian hard courts title in 1976. Balestra also won the Sydney NSW Open and the Sydney Toyota Title in 1978 and the Avon Boston title in 1979.

Virginia Ruzici

Virginia Ruzici was born on the 31st of January, 1955 in Campia Turzii, Romania. She started her professional tennis career in 1975 and bagged in 11 single titles in her career spanning over 12 years. She was known for her style of play with a powerful forehand.

Her singles titles include a Grand Slam title too which she won in 1978 beating last year’s champion Mima Jausovec in the French Opens. She also won the Women’s Doubles title in the same year and the same event partnered with Mima Jausovec.

She was also the finalist of the Mixed Doubles of French Open in 1977, making her one of the seven women to have reached the finals of all three events of the same Grand Slam tournament in the open era.

Ruzici reached her career-high at No.8 on the 21st of May, 1979 in the singles rankings after constantly securing her position in the top ’20s from 1977 to 1983. She was a regular at the Romanian Fed Cup team and started playing for them two years before starting professional tennis in 1973.

Ruzici besides winning the French Open in 1978 was also the runner-up in the event in 1980 losing to Chris Evert. She was also runner up in the Wimbledon Doubles final in 1978 with Mima Jausovec.

Ruzici however failed to win any mixed Doubles title in the Grand Slam and ending up as runner-up in the French Open in 1978 and 1979. She reached her career-best rank in the Women’s doubles at No. 17 on 20th October 1987 after winning 15 Doubles titles.

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