Barbara Paulus (born 1 September 1970) is a former professional tennis player from Austria. She began playing on the WTA Tour in 1986 and retired in 2001. During her career, she won a total of seven WTA tournaments (six singles titles, one doubles title). Paulus competed for the Austria Fed Cup team on 21 occasions in singles and doubles, winning nine of her 22 matches.

Career Paulus is one of the most successful Austrian female tennis players, being one of only two to be ranked in the top 10 (along with Barbara Schett), despite having a career plagued with injuries. She won six singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour. Her best results include victories over Chris Evert, Mary Pierce, Gabriela Sabatini, Conchita Martínez, and Jana Novotná.

After reaching as high as No. 12 in the world in 1990, she sustained injuries to her knee and both wrists which required her to have surgery and kept her sidelined for many months through 1992 and 1993. Her comeback from injury eventually bore her much success, with four WTA titles between 1995 and 1997, a top-ten ranking, and reaching her biggest career final at the Tier I Family Circle Cup, where she lost in three sets to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario.

Her career effectively ended in 1998 after an elbow injury, though she made a brief return in 2001.

Awards 1990: Golden Needle Award from Austrian Tennis FederationBarbara Paulus at the WTA Tour's official website

WTA career finals Singles: 17 (6–11) Winner – Legend Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) Tier I (0–1) Tier II (0–1) Tier III (2–5) Tier IV (3–2) Tier V (1–2) Finals by surface Hard (1–4) Grass (0–0) Clay (5–5) Carpet (0–2) ResultW/L DateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin 1–0 May 1988 Geneva, SwitzerlandTier V Clay Lori McNeil 6–4, 5–7, 6–1Loss 1–1 Aug 1988 Sofia, BulgariaTier V Hard Conchita Martínez 6–1, 6–2Loss 1–2 Jul 1989 Arcachon, SpainTier V Clay Judith Wiesner 6–3, 6–7(3–7), 6–1Loss 1–3 Jan 1990 Sydney, AustraliaTier III Hard Natasha Zvereva 4–6, 6–1, 6–3Win 2–3 May 1990 Geneva, SwitzerlandTier IV Clay Helen Kelesi 2–6, 7–5, 7–6(7–3)Loss 2–4 Jul 1990 Palermo, ItalyTier IV Clay Isabel Cueto 6–2, 6–3Loss 2–5 Oct 1990 Filderstadt, GermanyTier II Hard (i) Mary Joe Fernández 6–1, 6–3Win 3–5 Sep 1995 Warsaw, PolandTier III Clay Alexandra Fusai 7–6(7–4), 4–6, 6–1Win 4–5 Nov 1995 Pattaya, ThailandTier IV Hard Yi Jingqian 6–4, 6–3Loss 4–6 Jan 1996 Auckland, New ZealandTier IV Hard Sandra Cacic 6–3, 1–6, 6–4Loss 4–7 Apr 1996 Hilton Head Island, USTier I Clay Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6–2, 2–6, 6–2Loss 4–8 May 1996 Strasbourg, FranceTier III Clay Lindsay Davenport 6–3, 7–6(8–6)Win 5–8 Aug 1996 Maria Lankowitz, AustriaTier IV Clay Sandra Cecchini 40–15 ret.Loss 5–9 Sep 1996 Warsaw, PolandTier III Clay Henrieta Nagyová 3–6, 6–2, 6–1Loss 5–10 Oct 1996 Moscow, RussiaTier III Carpet (i) Conchita Martínez 6–1, 4–6, 6–4Win 6–10 Jul 1997 Warsaw, PolandTier III Clay Henrieta Nagyová 6–4, 6–4Loss 6–11 Oct 1997 LuxembourgTier III Carpet (i) Amanda Coetzer 6–4, 3–6, 7–5

Doubles: 1 (1–0) Winner – Legend' Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) Tier I (0–0) Tier II (0–0) Tier III (0–0) Tier IV (0–0) Tier V (1–0) Finals by surface Hard (1–0) Grass (0–0) Clay (0–0) Carpet (0–0) ResultW/L DateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1–0 Aug 1988 Sofia, BulgariaTier V Hard Conchita Martínez Sabrina Goleš Katerina Maleeva 1–6, 6–1, 6–4

ITF finals $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Singles (2–3) ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreWin 1. 16 November 1987 Wels, Austria Hard (i) Denisa Krajčovičová 6–2, 6–2Loss 1. 27 September 1993 Kirchheim, Austria Clay Laurence Courtois 1–6, 3–6Win 2. 29 August 1994 Maribor, Slovenia Hard (i) Maja Živec-Škulj 4–6, 6–4, 6–0Loss 2. 4 March 1996 Prostějov, Czech Republic Hard (i) Martina Hingis 1–6, 4–6Loss 3. 27 January 1996 Prostějov, Czech Republic Carpet (i) Karina Habšudová 7–6(9–7), 1–6, 3–6

Doubles (0–2) ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1. 25 August 1986 Wels, Austria Clay Bettina Diesner Paulette Moreno Karin Oberleitner 5–7, 6–7(4–7)Loss 2. 16 November 1987 Wels, Austria Hard (i) Petra Schwarz Petra Hentschl Eva-Maria Schürhoff 4–6, 4–6

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