Tamira Shelah Paszek (born 6 December 1990) is an inactive Austrian tennis player.
On 11 February 2013, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 26. On 6 May 2013, she peaked at No. 93 in the doubles rankings. Paszek has won three singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles and four doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.
Early life Paszek was introduced to tennis by her mother, Françoise Paszek, at age four-and-a-half. Her mother is a Chilean-born Austrian of Polish and French descent; and her father, Ariff Mohamed, a Tanzanian-born, Kenyan-raised Canadian of Indian descent. Tamira has a Polish surname from her maternal grandfather.
Career Paszek best results are reaching the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament twice, 2011 and 2012 at the Wimbledon Championships. In her career, Paszek has defeated top-ten players Marion Bartoli, Elena Dementieva, Daniela Hantuchová, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Janković, Angelique Kerber, Flavia Pennetta, Francesca Schiavone, Patty Schnyder, and Caroline Wozniacki.
2005–07 As a junior, Paszek was a girls' singles finalist at the 2005 Wimbledon Championships and the 2006 US Open.
In September 2005, she won her first title at an ITF tournament in Sofia. In October of the same year she received a wildcard to appear at her first WTA tournament in Linz; she defeated Elena Vesnina in the first round and lost to Ana Ivanovic after a tough first set.
In 2006, she passed qualifying in Istanbul, where she lost in the second round to Catalina Castaño; and in Portorož at the Slovenia Open, where she won her first WTA Tour title by defeating No. 6 seed Maria Elena Camerin, in straight sets. That was her career-first singles title in only her third main draw. It made her the youngest singles titlist in 2006 and the seventh-youngest of all time, the youngest winner being Tracy Austin. A month later, at the Zurich Open, she lost to Camerin in the second round of qualifying. She finished 2006 as world No. 181 in the WTA rankings.
Paszek started at the Australian Open, where she qualified for the main draw and defeated top-40 player Séverine Brémond in straight sets in the first round, before losing to No. 22 seed Vera Zvonareva.
After her loss to Li Na in the second round of the Miami Open, Paszek broke into the top 100. At the French Open, she was defeated by Justine Henin in the second round.
At Paszek's first grass tournament of her career, she reached the third round in Birmingham, losing to Maria Sharapova in a tight match. At Wimbledon, she reached the fourth round after beating two seeded players, No. 17 seed Tatiana Golovin and No. 12 seed Elena Dementieva; she then eventually lost to No. 5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, in straight sets. The win pushed her up 19 places to No. 35, a career high and only a few spots from a guaranteed seeding at the US Open.
Paszek also played for Austria Fed Cup team, and won her first two matches in the group stage against Australia but lost both her matches in the World Group play-offs against Israel: a singles match against Shahar Pe'er and a doubles match, partnering Melanie Klaffner.
Tamira debuted on the US Open, reaching the fourth round, beating the No. 24 and No. 11 seeds, Francesca Schiavone and Patty Schnyder, on the way. She lost to the sixth seed, Anna Chakvetadze.
Paszek decided against defending her title at the Slovenia Open, in favour of the China Open tournament in Beijing. However, she lost in the second round to fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva (whom she beat in Wimbledon) in less than an hour.
2008–09 At the Auckland Open, Paszek made it to the semifinals, losing to veteran Lindsay Davenport. In the first round of the Australian Open, Paszek played third-seeded Jelena Janković. In the deciding set, Paszek led by two games and had three match points before Janković came back to win the three-hour match.
Following this she lost in the first round of Doha to Patty Schnyder. Then she competed for the first time as a seed in a Tier I tournament at Indian Wells retiring in the third round to Casey Dellacqua. Then in Miami she was defeated by Anna Chakvetadze in the second round.
This started a losing streak of six straight matches running through the French Open and Wimbledon. At Wimbledon she lost her second marathon match of the year to Francesca Schiavone. It came to an end in Los Angeles where she defeated Aiko Nakamura only to lose to Flavia Pennetta in the second round.
On 31 July, Paszek beat world No. 1, Ana Ivanovic, in the third round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal in three sets. In the quarterfinals, she played Victoria Azarenka, to whom she lost. In the first round of Cincinnati, she lost to Petra Cetkovská. At the US Open, Paszek defeated the 23rd seed Maria Kirilenko, only then to lose to the lower ranked opponent Magdaléna Rybáriková. Paszek was runner-up in Bali. She reached the final, after taking out the seventh seed Flavia Pennetta and the top seed Daniela Hantuchová where she lost against Patty Schnyder. She then withdrew from the Linz Open due to injury.
Paszek ended her professional relationship with coach Lari Passos and started with Angel Giminez.Changes at the Top Tennis.com, 11 February 2009
In the first round of the Australian Open, Paszek lost to wildcard Jelena Dokić in three sets. She passed the first round at Indian Wells, winning in straight sets against Mara Santangelo, and lost in the second round against 21st seed Alisa Kleybanova.
2010
Paszek began 2010 season at the Auckland Open where she retired during her second round of qualifying match against Rebecca Marino. Her next tournament was the Hobart International. She beat qualifier Roberta Vinci in the first round. In the second round, she lost to eighth seed Gisela Dulko. At the Australian Open, Paszek was defeated in the first round by Julia Görges.
At the WTA indoor event in Paris, Paszek lost in the first round to eventual finalist Lucie Šafářová. To reach the main draw at the Dubai Championships, Paszek entered qualifying. She was defeated in the second round of qualifying by Anna-Lena Grönefeld. In March, Paszek competed at the Indian Wells Open. She lost in the first round to Julie Coin. Playing at the Miami Open, she was defeated in the second round by 22nd seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Paszek lost in early rounds of Marbella, Barcelona and Fes, and didn't enter the French Open. Instead, she played a $25k tournament in İzmir and won it, beating Çağla Büyükakçay. Her next event was ITF Budapest. She qualified, defeating Vanda Lukács and Jana Čepelová, and reached the second round, losing to Lenka Wienerová.
She then entered the Wimbledon Championships and qualified, but lost to Kurumi Nara in the second round.
She tried to qualify in Budapest defeating Eleni Daniilidou and Jessica Moore but lost to Andreja Klepač. Her next tournament was the Prague Open where she entered qualifying. Paszek defeated Tadeja Majerič and then crushed top seed Anastasia Rodionova but then lost to Liana Ungur. After losing the first set 2–6, Paszek went on to play better, but then retired because of the heat and a stomach complaint. However, because Gisela Dulko withdrew, Paszek gained a chance to enter the main draw. She faced Frenchwoman Alizé Cornet and lost in a match that lasted three hours and 40 minutes.
At the Slovenia Open, she defeated Jelena Kostanić Tošić for her first main-draw win since Ponte Vedra Beach in 2009. She then faced Stefanie Vögele and lost.
After some bad losses in qualifying of the Premier tournaments, Paszek found her form in the US Open where she entered qualifying. She defeated Michaëlla Krajicek, Kim So-jing and Evgeniya Rodina to reach the main draw. In the final qualifying round, Paszek trailed Rodina 2–6 after the first set, before coming back to win the second and blank the Russian in the third. In the first round of the main draw, she defeated 26th seed Lucie Šafářová, despite being three games behind in the second set. She lost to Chan Yung-jan in the second round.
Her next tournament was the Tournoi de Québec where she defeated Marina Erakovic in the first and Jill Craybas in the second round. In her first quarterfinal of 2010, she defeated No. 8 seed Sofia Arvidsson. She then crushed Christina McHale in the semifinal to book her place in the final, where she won the title by beating Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
2011: Wimbledon quarterfinal
Paszek began the 2011 season at the Auckland Open where she lost in the first round to eighth seed Sofia Arvidsson. At the Hobart International, Paszek qualified for the main draw defeating Darya Kustova, Stéphanie Dubois, and sixth seed Kateryna Bondarenko. In the first round, she beat Australian wildcard Olivia Rogowska. She was defeated in the second round by sixth seed and eventual champion Jarmila Groth. Ranked ninety at the Australian Open, Paszek lost in the first round to Vania King.
In February, Paszek played at the Pattaya Open in Thailand, and was defeated in the first round by top seed and two-time defending champion Vera Zvonareva. Paszek lost in the final round of qualifying at the Dubai Championships to Nuria Llagostera Vives. Paszek qualified for the Indian Wells Open beating Madison Brengle and Andrea Hlaváčková. She lost her first-round match to Anabel Medina Garrigues. She also lost in the first round of qualifying at the Miami Open to Nuria Llagostera Vives.
Paszek began her clay-court season at the Charleston Open. She defeated Melanie Oudin in the first round. She lost in the second round to third seed Jelena Janković. Paszek qualified for the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix beating Sesil Karatantcheva, Lenka Juríková, and Zuzana Kučová. She was defeated in the first round by German Andrea Petkovic. In Portugal at the Estoril Open, Paszek qualified for the tournament defeating Ekaterina Ivanova, Laura Siegemund, and Heather Watson. She retired during her first-round match versus Anastasiya Yakimova. Paszek played at the Italian Open where she qualified for the tournament beating Casey Dellacqua and Virginie Razzano. However, she was defeated in the first round by Elena Vesnina. Ranked 85 at the French Open, Paszek lost in the first round to 29th seed Peng Shuai.
Paszek began her grass-court season at the Nottingham Trophy. Seeded third, she advanced to the quarterfinals where she lost to eventual champion Eleni Daniilidou. In the Birmingham Classic, Paszek reached the third round after wins over Sania Mirza and sixth seed Ekaterina Makarova. She lost her third-round match to eventual champion Sabine Lisicki. Getting through qualifying at Eastbourne, Paszek lost in the first round to second seed Li Na. Ranked 80 at the Wimbledon Championships, she reached the quarterfinals for the first time in her career after victories over Ayumi Morita, Christina McHale, sixth seed Francesca Schiavone, and Ksenia Pervak. She lost her quarterfinal match to fourth seed Victoria Azarenka.
Paszek began the US Open Series at the first edition of the Washington Open. Seeded third, she made it to the semifinals defeating Melanie Oudin, qualifier Madison Brengle, and Stéphanie Dubois. She lost in her semifinal match to top seed Shahar Pe'er. At the Carlsbad Open, Paszek retired during her third-round match against Sloane Stephens due to a left abdominal injury. Ranked 37 at the US Open, Paszek lost in the first round to Akgul Amanmuradova.