Is Liu on Her Way to a Second Wimbledon Win?

By MH
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Updated: May 16, 2017

Junior Thousand Oaks’ Tennis prodigy Claire Liu seems to be having a strong start to the 2017 tennis season and could surprise the world again with another win at the All England Tennis Club this year.

Liu has a career-high WTA singles ranking of 498^th and one previous ITF singles title to her name, as well as the prestigious Girls’ Doubles Wimbledon trophy from 2016. She has also added a second Easter Bowl title to her record and became the first player male or female to win two main titles across a three-year span since the junior tournament began at the Adidas Easter Bowl this April. First winning the title in 2015 despite being one of the youngest players in the tournament, Liu beat former rival Ellie Douglas, the Texan No. 4 seed, 6-1, 6-2 to win the coveted trophy.

Dropping just one set in the entire tournament and winning the last six sets she played, Liu spoke about feeling “pretty nervous” during the event: “For every match I was nervous, but that’s kind of why I’m here, to deal with my nerves and to continue to play well under pressure, and I think I did that pretty good.”

Liu’s first major break came in 2012 when she won the Orange Bowl girls title as a youngster. After steadily progressing, she won a $10,000 purse event in Orlando, Florida again at a prodigious age. At the 2015 U.S. Open, she was granted a wildcard entry into the qualifying tournament. After beating Veronica Cepede Royg and Jana Cepelova, the then 9^th seed, she lost to 26^th seed Alexandra Panova in the final round of the qualifiers. That year, she and Taylor Fritz were given wild card entries for the mixed doubles event. They were defeated in the first round by the highly experienced 4^th seeds and eventual tournament champions, Marina Hingis and Leander Paes.

Despite only competing as an amateur in Wimbledon last year (In grand slam events, she has to formally turn pro in order to compete for a purse), Liu partnered with fellow U.S. player Usue Arconada to defeat Mariam Bolkvadze (Georgia) and the American Caty McNally in straight sets. Liu and Arconada both added their names to the famous ‘Wimbledon Wall’, which lists all the previous winners of the tournament including fellow Californians Sloane Stephens and Stephanie Rehe, the winners of the 2010 and 1984 Girls’ Doubles events respectively.

Since her Easter Bowl win, Liu has gone on to compete at the $60,000 Charleston ITF event, reaching the Women’s Semi-Finals where she lost to Madison Brengle (U.S) 3-6, 1-6. Prior to that, she qualified and competed in the $60,000 Charlottesville ITF event at the end of April, defeating Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-4 and Hungary’s Fanni Stollar 6-2, 6-0 to reach the Women’s Quarter-Finals, where she lost out to American opponent Jamie Loeb 4-6, 4-6.

Currently competing in Naples, Florida where she defeated Quinn Gleason (U.S) 7-6(4), 4-2 in the opening round, Liu will soon be heading to the European grand slams to compete in both the French Open and Wimbledon Juniors. You can track Liu’s performance during the Wimbledon tournament on the BetStars website, which features up to the minute match listings and results.