Steffi Carruthers

Samoan tennis player

Steffi Carruthers
Singles
Full name	Steffi Faasusivaitele Hethrington Carruthers
Country (sports)	Samoa Pacific Oceania (Fed Cup)
Born	(1993-05-24) 24 May 1993 (age 30) Apia, Samoa
Plays	Right (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$20,223
Career record	88–105
Highest ranking	No. 662 (13 October 2014)
Doubles
Career record	42–67
Career titles	2 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 556 (16 November 2015)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	11–11

Steffi Faasusivaitele Hearthington Carruthers (born 24 May 1993) is a Samoan former tennis player. She is the first Samoan woman to play professional tennis and the first Pacific Oceanian player to win a professional tournament.^[1]^[2]

Carruthers is from the village of Vailima, and was educated at Vaiala Beach School and Samoa College.^[3] and has played tennis since the age of 5, and competed in her first international tournament at the age of 10.^[4] She is named after German tennis player Steffi Graf.^[3]^[4]

Carruthers has career-high WTA rankings of 662 in singles and 556 in doubles. In her career, she won two ITF titles in doubles.

Playing for Pacific Oceania in Fed Cup, Carruthers has a win-loss record of 11–11.

Carruthers began training to become a professional in 2012,^[5]^[6] and played her first professional season in 2014.^[7] She later competed in the 2017 Pacific Mini Games in Port Vila, Vanuatu, winning gold in the doubles,^[8] gold in the singles,^[9] silver in the mixed doubles, and bronze in the women's team events. At the 2019 Pacific Games in Apia she won silver in the women's team event.

In 2016 she was nominated as Sports Woman of the Year in the annual SASNOC sports awards.^[4]^[10]

ITF finals

Doubles (2–1)

Legend
$100,000 tournaments
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$15,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface
Hard (1–1)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	6 June 2015	ITF Manzanillo, Mexico	Hard	Carolina Betancourt	Tornado Alicia Black Dasha Ivanova	6–3, 6–3
Win	2.	12 September 2015	ITF Bol, Croatia	Clay	Alina Silich	Barbara Kotelesova Natalija Sipek	7–6⁽³⁾, 3–6, [10–5]
Loss	1.	6 November 2015	GB Pro-Series Loughborough, United Kingdom	Hard	Sabastiani Leon	Freya Christie Lisa Whybourn	1–6, 2–6

ITF Junior Circuit finals

Category G1

Category G2

Category G3

Category G4

Category G5

Singles (0–1)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1.	2 October 2010	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Anaève Pain	1–6, 0–6

Doubles (5–3)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1.	27 June 2008	Nouméa, New Caledonia	Hard	Anaève Pain	Abigail Tere-Apisah Harriet Sheahan	6–7⁽⁶⁾, 6–0, 1–6
Win	2.	5 July 2008	Lautoka, Fiji	Hard	Anaève Pain	Celina Goetti Athena Nathalia	6–2, 7–6⁽⁵⁾
Win	3.	31 January 2009	Christchurch, New Zealand	Hard	Anaève Pain	Leela Beattie Gabrielle Grady	5–7, 6–2, [10–4]
Loss	4.	19 July 2009	Darwin, Australia	Hard	Abigail Tere-Apisah	Miyu Kato Risa Ozaki	3–6, 6–3, [9–11]
Win	5.	26 June 2010	Nouméa, New Caledonia	Hard	Emily Burns	Kaede Amano Asuka Sakamoto	6–2, 6–3
Loss	6.	4 July 2010	Lautoka, Fiji	Hard	Anaève Pain	Emily Fanning Heidi Stewart	1–6, 0–6
Win	7.	25 September 2010	Hamilton, New Zealand	Hard	Anaève Pain	Paige Hourigan Claudia Williams	6–4, 6–1
Win	8.	2 October 2010	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Anaève Pain	Carli Davis Danielle Feneridis	6–2, 6–4

Fed Cup participation

Singles (4–5)

Edition	Round	Date	Location	Against	Surface	Opponent	W/L	Score
2015 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II	R/R	14 April 2015	Hyderabad, India	Indonesia	Hard (i)	Deria Nur Haliza	L	2–6, 0–6
	R/R	15 April 2015		Sri Lanka		Thisuri Molligoda	W	6–2, 6–7⁽⁵⁾, 6–1
	P/O	17 April 2015		Singapore		Wee Khee-yen	W	6–2, 6–0
2016 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II	R/R	11 April 2016	Hua Hin, Thailand	Hong Kong	Hard	Zhang Ling	L	5–7, 3–6
		12 April 2016		Iran		Sara Amiri	W	6–0, 6–1
		13 April 2016		Philippines		Katharina Lehnert	L	0–6, 2–6
	P/O	16 April 2016		Indonesia		Deria Nur Haliza	L	3–6, 1–6
2017 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II	R/R	19 July 2017	Dushanbe, Tajikistan	Iran	Hard	Yasmin Mansouri	W	6–4, 6–2
2017 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II	R/R	20 July 2017	Dushanbe, Tajikistan	Hong Kong	Hard	Eudice Chong	L	5–7, 3–6

Doubles (1–2)

Edition	Round	Date	Location	Against	Surface	Partner	Opponents	W/L	Score
2015 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II	R/R	15 April 2015	Hyderabad, India	Sri Lanka	Hard (i)	Brittany Teei	Amreetha Muttiah Medhira Samarasinghe	W	6–3, 3–6, 6–3
2016 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II	R/R	11 April 2016	Hua Hin, Thailand	Hong Kong	Hard	Abigail Tere-Apisah	Sher Chun-wing Zhang Ling	L	3–6, 2–6
2016 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II	R/R	13 April 2016	Hua Hin, Thailand	Philippines	Hard	Abigail Tere-Apisah	Khim Iglupas Katharina Lehnert	L	4–6, 3–6

References

^ "Exclusive Interview with Samoan Tennis Player Steffi Carruthers". The What I Do. 29 October 2014. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014.
^ "Sport: Samoa's Steffie Carruthers wins pro event". RNZ. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Steffi keen to shine". Fiji Times. 8 July 2008. p. 25 – via EBSCOHost.
^ ^a ^b ^c Vatapuia Maiava (23 April 2016). "Samoa's very own tennis star". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ "Sport: Samoa's Carruthers ready for hard slog in professional ranks". RNZ. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ "Moomia se fesoasoani mo Steffi Carruthers" (in Samoan). Samoa Times. 15 October 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ "Sport: Tennis a learning game for Samoa's Carruthers". RNZ. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ "Tennis pair secures Samoa another gold". Samoa Observer. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ Ulimasao Fata (16 December 2017). "Carruthers wins one more gold for Samoa". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ "Sports Awards: The finalists named". Samoa Observer. 12 April 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2023.