María José Martínez Sánchez

Alongside partner Neal Skupski, the Spaniard was beaten in her mixed doubles semi-final in the Australian Open 2019.

After withdrawing from the Australian Open with a left knee injury, she failed to win a main draw match until the French Open, where she reached the 3rd round losing to 15th seed Dominika Cibulková, 2–6, 1–6. Martínez Sánchez experienced even more success in doubles where she reached the semis with Nuria Llagostera Vives losing to eventual champions and 4th seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

After giving birth in November 2013 to a daughter, Andrea, she returned on the main tour in the Miami Open doubles draw pairing with Vera Dushevina.

2012 was a year of injury and struggles for Martínez Sánchez as she consequently fell out of the top 150 in singles.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Martínez Sánchez defeated Polona Hercog 6–4, 6–2, before being routed out by Victoria Azarenka 1–6, 2–6. She and Llagostera Vives routed Casey Dellacqua and Samantha Stosur 6–1, 6–1, before falling to Peng Shuai and Zheng Jie 4–6, 2–6.

Entering the 2012 Hansol Korea Open as the defending champion, she played well defeating Eleni Daniilidou, and Nadia Petrova via walkover, but lost in the quarterfinals where she was routed by Ekaterina Makarova 1–6, 1–6. The loss sent her sprawling out of the top 100 to 137. Martínez Sánchez then lost in the first round of qualies at Tokyo, Beijing, and Osaka. In Osaka, she managed to push 2nd seed Zheng Jie to a tough three-setter losing 6–4, 5–7, 4–6 despite going up a set and 5–2.

Martínez Sánchez started off the year at the 2011 Medibank International Sydney where she defeated Daniela Hantuchová in the first round 6–2, 6–4 before setting up a meeting with Alisa Kleybanova where she lost 6–2, 6–4. In the 2011 Australian Open Martínez Sánchez was seeded 26. In the first round she faced Gréta Arn who had recently won the 2011 ASB Classic event in Auckland. Martínez Sánchez won against Arn although was subsequently defeated by Frenchwoman Alizé Cornet in the second round.

At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Martínez Sánchez came from a set down to upset 15th seed Jelena Janković in the first round. She then made quick work of Romanian Monica Niculescu in the following match. She lost to 23rd seed and 5-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in the third round.

She has earned two International Championships in 2011. In July, Martínez Sánchez defeated Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 6–0, 7–4 at the Bad Gastein Ladies in Bad Gastein, Austria. She followed that win with a 7–6, 7–6 victory over Galina Voskoboeva at the Hansol Korea Open in September.

In doubles, Martínez Sánchez has won 21 WTA titles, ten of which came with Nuria Llagostera Vives. Among them are the 2009 WTA Tour Championships, 2009 Rogers Cup and Dubai Tennis Championships 2010–2011. Martínez Sánchez reached a career high doubles ranking of World No. 4 on 5 July 2010.

Martínez Sánchez was seeded 24th at the 2010 Australian Open but lost in the second round to World No. 35 Zheng Jie 2–6, 6–2, 6–3.

Martínez Sánchez major breakthrough tournament came at the Italian Open, a Premier 5 event in Rome where nine of the top ten women were competing. She upset World No. 17 Francesca Schiavone, World No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki and then Lucie Šafářová in straight sets. She then defeated Ana Ivanovic in the semifinals 6–4, 6–2 and went on to beat World No. 7 Jelena Janković in the final 7–6, 7–5 to win the biggest title of her career so far. Due to her impressive performance in Rome, she became a top 20 player for the first time, at No.19. However, she was unable to carry any momentum at all into the 2010 French Open, suffering defeat in the first round, because her neck was injured while she was training the same day and she could hardly move the neck in the match.

In the 2010 US Open, she failed to repeat her 3rd round finish of the previous year, losing in the 2nd round against Patty Schnyder in a tight match 7–6, 6–4. Overall the result was good for Martínez Sánchez who had made a lot unforced errors and Schnyder who had her best match in the past few months.

Martínez Sánchez started the year playing at the 2009 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year. In the first round, she upset the 32nd seed Tamarine Tanasugarn 7–5, 6–3. She then defeated Akgul Amanmuradova 6–2, 6–4 but lost in the third round to compatriot Carla Suárez Navarro 6–1, 6–4. In doubles, she and Nuria Llagostera Vives were seeded 11th and defeated 6th seeds Yan Zi and Zheng Jie in the third round but they lost a tough match in the quarterfinals to Nathalie Dechy and Mara Santangelo 3–6, 7–6, 7–6.

María José next played at the 2009 Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas where she was seeded 7th. She defeated Anastasiya Yakimova, Arantxa Parra Santonja and Betina Jozami to reach the semi-finals where she won a close match against Patricia Mayr 7–5, 7–5. She captured her first WTA singles title when she defeated 3rd seed Gisela Dulko 6–3, 6–2 in the final. In doubles, Martínez Sánchez and Llagostera Vives were the top seeds and they reached the final where they beat second seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta 7–5, 3–6, [10–7] to win their first doubles title of the year.

Martínez Sánchez won her second singles title at the year at the 2009 Swedish Open. On the way she defeated 4th seed Kaia Kanepi, Carla Suárez Navarro and Gisela Dulko before beating top seed and World No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki 7–5, 6–4 in the final.

Maria qualified to play at the 2009 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali. She recovered from a first set deficit to beat Szávay in 3 sets 4–6, 6–4, 6–0 in her second group round robin match she beat Stosur in straight sets 7–6, 7–5 where Stosur served a 208kmps world record serve. In the semifinal she lost against Aravane Rezaï 6–2, 6–3, who clearly outplayed her on that day.

At the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, she advanced to the third round where she lost to eventual champion Venus Williams. In her next Grand Slam, the 2008 US Open, she lost in the first round to Sabine Lisicki.

She finished off the year of a ranking of 87, and only the second time of her career that she finish the year in the top 100 (her first being all the way back in 2001).

Martínez Sánchez won the 1999 Orange Bowl, a year-ending tennis event for Juniors. Next year she became the champion of French Open girls' doubles. She made her first Grand Slam draw at the 2001 Australian Open losing to the 3rd seed Venus Williams in 3 sets.

María José Martínez Sánchez (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈɾi.a xoˈse maɾˈtineθ ˈsantʃeθ]; born 12 August 1982) is a Spanish retired professional tennis player. In singles, she has won five WTA singles titles, her biggest being a Premier 5 title at the 2010 Italian Open where she defeated two former World No. 1 players, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Janković, en route to the title. As a junior, she won the Orange Bowl and French Open. She reached her career high ranking in singles of World No. 19 on 10 May 2010.