Fiona Crawley

American tennis player (born 2002)

Fiona Crawley
Crawley at the 2023 US Open
Country (sports) United States
Born (2002-02-07) February 7, 2002 (age 22)[1]
San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Height5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
CollegeNorth Carolina (2020–)
Prize money$110,426
Singles
Career record32–12 (72.7%)
Career titles2 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 371 (February 5, 2024)
Current rankingNo. 379 (March 18, 2024)
Grand Slam singles results
US Open1R (2023)
Doubles
Career record7–4 (63.6%)
Career titles1 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 970 (November 6, 2023)
Current rankingNo. 1002 (March 18, 2024)
Grand Slam doubles results
US Open1R (2023)
Last updated on: March 23, 2024.

Fiona Maeve Crawley (born February 7, 2002) is an American tennis player who plays college tennis for the North Carolina Tar Heels. In 2023, she helped North Carolina win the NCAA Team Championships and won the NCAA doubles title with Carson Tanguilig. She won the ITA National Fall Championships with Elizabeth Scotty in 2021.

Crawley has a career-high Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of No. 371 in singles and No. 970 in doubles. She has won two singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour.

Early life and junior career

A native of San Antonio, Texas, Crawley took up tennis from age six to nine while living in Okinawa, Japan, where her father, Peter, was stationed as a member of the US Air Force.[2][3] She comes from an athletic family: her father played soccer at Michigan State, and she used to train with her older siblings, Liam and Solène, who went on to play tennis at Trinity and Colorado State respectively.[2][3][4]

Crawley was the No. 1–ranked tennis player in Texas in her age group from the age of ten.[5][6] She competed at national junior events while attending Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio.[2][7] In 2017, she won the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Girls' 16s National Clay Court Championships and the USTA 18s National Winter Championships,[7][8] and finished runner-up in the Orange Bowl's under-16 event.[6][9] In 2018, after winning the Texas Slam's under-18 event and the USTA Billie Jean King Girls' 16s National Championships,[10][11] she earned a wildcard into the US Open junior tournament, but lost in the first round.[12][13] Crawley played at a handful of ITF World Tennis Tour events beginning in 2017.[12] She was considered the No. 1 recruit of the class of 2020.[2][14]

College career

Crawley began playing college tennis at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2020.[2] In her freshman year, she compiled a 30–1 singles record, helping North Carolina win the ACC Championships and earn the top seed at the 2021 NCAA Team Championships, where they reached the semifinals.[2]

As a sophomore in 2021–22, Crawley led Division I in singles wins with a 47–7 record, mostly playing in the No. 4 spot for North Carolina, and finished the season ranked No. 32 nationally. In doubles, she and teammate Elizabeth Scotty won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Carolina Regionals and the ITA Fall National Championships in San Diego.[15] At the 2022 NCAA Championships, where top-seeded North Carolina again got to the team semifinals, an unseeded Crawley made a run to the semifinals of the individual competition.[2][16][17]

Crawley (right) and Carson Tanguilig won the 2023 NCAA Doubles Championship.

In the fall of 2022, Crawley went undefeated in 17 matches at ITA tournaments, including the ITA National Fall Championships,[16][18] attaining the No. 1 in singles for the first time on November 16, 2022.[19] North Carolina went undefeated in the 2023 regular season.[20] In forty-nine singles matches as a junior, her three losses were to Georgia's Lea Ma and NC State's Diana Shnaider (in the ACC final) and Amelia Rajecki (in the NCAA singles event's round of 16).[21] After playing mostly in the team's No. 1 spot, she swapped with No. 2 Reese Brantmeier for the 2023 NCAA Championships, where they avenged their only loss of the year—to rival North Carolina State in the ACC Championship—to win their first national team title.[22][23] In doubles, Crawley and sophomore Carson Tanguilig were runners-up at the ITA National Fall Championships.[24] At the end of the season they won the NCAA Doubles Championship, beating teammates Scotty and Brantmeier in the final.[25][26] She was named the ITA National Player of the Year and won the Honda Sports Award for tennis.[27][28]

Crawley was selected to the USTA Collegiate Summer Team in mid-2023.[29] She previously made her WTA Tour debut in April 2023 at the Charleston Open, where she received a wildcard into the main draw.[30][31] In June 2023, playing in her first ITF competition since July 2021, she reached the final of the W25 event in Wichita as a qualifier.[12] Though she lost there to two seed Stacey Fung, the result led to her debut in the WTA rankings at No. 786 in the week of July 3, 2023.[32][33] The next month, she split two back-to-back W15 doubles finals in Lakewood, California, partnering college players Mary Stoiana of Texas A&M and North Carolina teammate Brantmeier.[12]

In August 2023, Crawley made her Grand Slam debut at the US Open. As a wildcard, she progressed through the singles qualifying tournament by saving two match points in the first round (against Réka Luca Jani) and prevailing in third-set tiebreaks in two of her three qualifying wins.[34][35][36] NCAA champions Crawley and Tanguilig were also awarded a wildcard into the doubles event.[37] Crawley did not collect her US$81,000 in prize money because of NCAA restrictions on college athletes, something she considered unfair in light of name, image, and likeness (NIL) rules.[38][39] She won her first ITF singles title in October 2023 at the W25 event in Florence, South Carolina, beating former Duke player Chloe Beck in the final.[40][41]

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Legend
W25/35 tournaments (2–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–1)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Jun 2023 ITF Wichita, Kansas, United States W25 Hard Canada Stacey Fung 3–6, 2–6
Win 1–1 Oct 2023 ITF Florence, South Carolina, U.S. W25 Hard United States Chloe Beck 7–5, 6–1
Win 2–1 Jan 2024 ITF Arcadia, California, U.S. W35 Hard United States Ashley Lahey 4–6, 6–2, 7–5

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Legend
W15 tournaments (1–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–1)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Jul 2023 ITF Lakewood, California, U.S. W15 Hard United States Mary Stoiana United States Mary Lewis
United States Brandy Walker 		7–5, 6–7(3–7), [10–5]
Loss 1–1 Jul 2023 ITF Lakewood, California, U.S. W15 Hard United States Reese Brantmeier United States Savannah Broadus
Ukraine Anita Sahdiieva 		3–6, 3–6

References

  1. ^ "Fiona Crawley". Just Women's Sports. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Fiona Crawley". goheels.com. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Athletics. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  3. ^ a b Mitsch, Pat (December 9, 2017). "Crawley Ousts Top Seed to Reach Girls' 16S Final". United States Tennis Association. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  4. ^ Maddock, Eve (February 25, 2021). "Fiona Crawley brings more winning ways to loaded UNC women's tennis team". The Daily Tar Heel. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  5. ^ Koidin Jaffee, Michelle (August 2, 2012). "Courting success a way of life for tennis prodigy". mysanantonio.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2015. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  6. ^ a b "High school tennis prodigy excels in competition against the world's best". news4sanantonio.com. December 17, 2017. Archived from the original on December 25, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  7. ^ a b Barrett, Kathryn (August 1, 2017). "San Antonio's Crawley Wins Gold at Clay Courts". United States Tennis Association. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  8. ^ Milano, Sally (January 3, 2018). "Alshon, Crawley Win USTA National Winter Championships". United States Tennis Association. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  9. ^ "S.A. teen runner-up at tennis junior championships". KENS5. December 9, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  10. ^ "Hilderbrand, Crawley Win at 2018 Texas Slam". United States Tennis Association. June 16, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  11. ^ Kapetanakis, Arthur (August 13, 2018). "Osuigwe, Brooksby Win USTA Junior National Titles". United States Tennis Association. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  12. ^ a b c d "Fiona Crawley Tennis Player Profile". International Tennis Federation. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  13. ^ Thomas, Terrence (September 18, 2018). "Q&A: Getting to know Alamo Heights' Fiona Crawley". mysanantonio.com. Archived from the original on September 19, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  14. ^ "Player Overview – Fiona Crawley". tennisrecruiting.net. August 30, 2020. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  15. ^ "Crawley and Scotty Win ITA Fall National Championship". goheels.com. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Athletics. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  16. ^ a b Peace, Gwen (November 15, 2022). "After extraordinary fall season, Crawley aims to lead UNC women's tennis to NCAA title". The Daily Tar Heel. Archived from the original on January 16, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  17. ^ Koh, Michael (December 10, 2021). "UNC Doubles Pair of Scotty and Crawley Ends Year Ranked No. 1". Chapelboro. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  18. ^ "Top Stories of 2022: Fiona Crawley Sweeps the Fall". Intercollegiate Tennis Association. December 21, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  19. ^ "ITA / Rankings (Nov 16 2022)". Intercollegiate Tennis Association. November 16, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  20. ^ "Crawley & Tanguilig Win 2023 NCAA Doubles Championship". goheels.com. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Athletics. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  21. ^ "Fiona Crawley". Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  22. ^ Pelletier, Justin (May 21, 2023). "UNC women's tennis avenges only loss of season, beats rival NC State for national title". The News & Observer. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  23. ^ Wills, Caroline (May 22, 2023). "Lineup changes prove vital in road to NCAA women's tennis title". The Daily Tar Heel. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  24. ^ Peace, Gwen (November 8, 2022). "UNC women's tennis' Crawley and Tanguilig earn second place in doubles at ITA National Fall Championships". The Daily Tar Heel. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  25. ^ Chiesa, Victoria (May 26, 2023). "2023 NCAA Championships: After team win, D1 women's doubles final is all-UNC affair". United States Tennis Association. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  26. ^ Koh, Michael (May 27, 2023). "UNC's Fiona Crawley and Carson Tanguilig Win NCAA Doubles Championship". Chapelboro. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  27. ^ "2023 Division I Women's Tennis ITA National Awards". Intercollegiate Tennis Association. June 12, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  28. ^ "Crawley Named 2023 Honda Award Winner for Women's Tennis". goheels.com. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Athletics. June 14, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  29. ^ "Brantmeier and Crawley Selected to 2023 USTA Collegiate Summer Team". goheels.com. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Athletics. June 8, 2023. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  30. ^ McGrogan, Ed (April 6, 2023). "Diana Shnaider won't play for NC State today against rival North Carolina, but there's a very good reason why". tennis.com. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  31. ^ "Photos: The players contesting their first WTA main draw in 2023". Women's Tennis Association. June 17, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  32. ^ "W25 Wichita 2023 Tennis Tournament". International Tennis Federation. June 25, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
  33. ^ "Fiona Crawley – Rankings History". Women's Tennis Association. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
  34. ^ Kapetanakis, Arthur (August 25, 2023). "Fiona Crawley wins second straight deciding tiebreak in 2023 US Open qualifying". US Open. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  35. ^ Macpherson, Alex (August 26, 2023). "US Open 2023's Grand Slam debuts: Ngounoue, Prozorova, Crawley". Women's Tennis Association. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  36. ^ Cioffi, Ron (August 26, 2023). "Meet the 2023 US Open women's qualifiers". US Open. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  37. ^ Chiesa, Victoria (June 6, 2023). "NCAA champions Quinn, Crawley and Tanguilig awarded 2023 US Open wild cards". US Open. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  38. ^ "College tennis champ Fiona Crawley explains decision to forfeit US Open prize money". ABC News. September 6, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  39. ^ Wills, Caroline (September 27, 2023). "Fiona Crawley, UNC tennis players struggle with NCAA prize money rules". The Daily Tar Heel. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  40. ^ "Crawley Wins First Professional Singles Title". goheels.com. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Athletics. October 16, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  41. ^ Chansky, Art (October 16, 2023). "Chansky's Notebook: Fight Goes On". Chapelboro. Retrieved October 17, 2023.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fiona Crawley.
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