Francesca Di Lorenzo (Italian pronunciation: [franˈtʃeska di loˈrɛntso]; born July 22, 1997) is an American former tennis player. She currently assistant coach of the University of Central Florida womens tennis team.[1]

Francesca Di Lorenzo
Country (sports) United States
Born (1997-07-22) July 22, 1997 (age 27)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Turned pro2017
PlaysLeft-handed (two-handed backhand)
CollegeOhio State University, U.S.
CoachRene Moller
Prize money$761,507
Singles
Career record173–162
Career titles4 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 118 (February 3, 2020)
Current rankingNo. 493 (January 15, 2024)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQ2 (2020, 2022)
French OpenQ2 (2017, 2019, 2021)
WimbledonQ2 (2019)
US Open2R (2018, 2019)
Doubles
Career record71–73
Career titles4 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 178 (June 12, 2023)
Current rankingNo. 276 (January 15, 2024)
Grand Slam doubles results
US Open1R (2017, 2019)
Last updated on: January 15, 2024.

She played collegiately for the Ohio State University. On May 29, 2017, Di Lorenzo and her partner Miho Kowase won the NCAA Women's Doubles Championship.[2]

Personal life

edit

Di Lorenzo was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but raised in Columbus, Ohio, after her family moved there when she was around the age of seven. Her parents, Carlo and Daniela Di Lorenzo, are Italian immigrants from Salerno. [3] Carlo is a physician at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus and Daniela teaches Italian at various colleges.[4] Di Lorenzo attended New Albany High School in New Albany, Ohio.[3]

She has three siblings, and Cristina, her oldest sister, also played tennis at the collegiate level at Xavier University and graduated in 2017.[5] Mario, her oldest brother, also has an athletic background. He won an intramural championship in the inaugural season of wheelchair basketball at Ohio State University.

Di Lorenzo is fluent in Italian. As a child, she played both tennis and soccer.[6]

Tennis career

edit

Amateur years

edit

Coming out of high school, Di Lorenzo was ranked as the nation's top tennis recruit.[7] She committed to playing collegiate tennis at Ohio State University.[8] In her final tournament as a junior, she reached the semifinals in both the girls' singles and doubles tournaments at the 2015 US Open.[9]

As a freshman, Di Lorenzo began her season by winning the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship, claiming the Buckeyes' first national title in its program's history.[10] She defeated Joana Eidukonytė in the championship match, and concluded the season with a 37–5 record, setting the program record for most victories in a season, and was named singles all-American.[7]

During her sophomore year with the Buckeyes, Di Lorenzo went 37-2 in singles, equaling her school record from the previous year. She also finished the year as the top-ranked women's NCAA singles player.[11] Di Lorenzo repeated as the USTA/ITA National Indoor Champion, beating Hayley Carter in the final.[12] She capped off her sophomore season by winning the NCAA Women's Doubles Championship with her partner, Miho Kowase.[2] This championship was the program's first NCAA in its history. For her accomplishments during the season, Di Lorenzo was named both singles and doubles all-American.

Di Lorenzo earned a wildcard into the qualifiers of the singles tournament at the 2017 US Open.[13] There, she also received a wildcard for the main draw of the doubles tournament and made her Grand Slam debut, partnering with Allie Kiick.

Professional career

edit

On 18 December 2017, Di Lorenzo announced that she would be leaving Ohio State to become a professional tennis player.[14]

She made her Grand Slam singles debut at the 2018 US Open, winning her section of the qualifying tournament with victories over Antonia Lottner, Verónica Cepede Royg, and Mona Barthel. She made it to the second round where she was defeated by No. 13 seed, Kiki Bertens.

Performance timeline

edit
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# P# DNQ A Z# PO G S B NMS NTI P NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.

Singles

edit

Current through the 2022 Tennis in the Land.

Tournaments 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 SR W–L Win%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A Q2 Q1 Q2 0 / 0 0–0  – 
French Open A Q2 A Q2 Q2 Q2 Q1 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Wimbledon A Q1 A Q2 NH Q1 Q1 0 / 0 0–0  – 
US Open Q1 Q1 2R 2R 1R Q2 0 / 3 2–3 40%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 1–1 1–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 0 / 3 2–3 40%
WTA 1000
Indian Wells Open A A A Q1 NH Q1 A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Miami Open A A A A NH Q1 A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Canadian Open A A A 2R NH A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Cincinnati Open A A Q1 A Q1 A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Career statistics
Tournaments 0 0 2 5 3 2 2 Career total: 14
Overall win–loss 0–0 0–0 1–2 2–5 0–3 1–2 0–2 0 / 14 4–14 22%
Year-end ranking 346 302 166 121 143 197 $730,169

ITF Circuit finals

edit

Singles: 6 (4 titles, 2 runner–ups)

edit
Legend
$60,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments
Finals by surface
Hard (3–2)
Clay (1–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Aug 2015 ITF Austin, United States 10,000 Hard   Lauren Herring 4–6, 7–6(2), 6–2
Win 2–0 Jul 2016 ITF Winnipeg, Canada 25,000 Hard   Erin Routliffe 6–4, 6–1
Loss 2–1 Jun 2017 ITF Sumter, United States 25,000 Hard   Ashley Lahey 3–6, 6–7(4)
Loss 2–2 Jun 2017 ITF Baton Rouge, United States 25,000 Hard   Nicole Gibbs 3–6, 3–6
Win 3–2 Jan 2018 ITF Wesley Chapel, United States 25,000 Clay   Whitney Osuigwe 6–2, 1–6, 6–4
Win 4–2 Nov 2019 Toronto Challenger, Canada 60,000 Hard   Kirsten Flipkens 7–6(3), 6–4

Doubles: 10 (4 titles, 6 runner–ups)

edit
Legend
$80,000 tournaments
$60,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
Finals by surface
Hard (2–6)
Clay (2–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Jul 2016 ITF Winnipeg, Canada 25,000 Hard   Ronit Yurovsky   Marie-Alexandre Leduc
  Charlotte Robillard-Millette
1–6, 7–5, [10–6]
Loss 1–1 Jun 2017 ITF Baton Rouge, U.S. 25,000 Hard   Julia Elbaba   Ellen Perez
  Luisa Stefani
3–6, 4–6
Loss 1–2 Oct 2017 Challenger de Saguenay, Canada 60,000 Hard (i)   Erin Routliffe   Bianca Andreescu
  Carol Zhao
w/o
Win 2–2 May 2018 Open Saint-Gaudens, France 60,000 Clay   Naiktha Bains   Manon Arcangioli
  Shérazad Reix
6–4, 1–6, [11–9]
Loss 2–3 Feb 2019 Rancho Santa Fe Open, U.S. 25,000 Hard   Caty McNally   Hayley Carter
  Ena Shibahara
5–7, 2–6
Loss 2–4 Jul 2019 Berkeley Tennis Challenge, U.S. 60,000 Hard   Katie Swan   Madison Brengle
  Sachia Vickery
3–6, 5–7
Loss 2–5 Oct 2020 Tennis Classic of Macon, U.S. 80,000 Hard   Jamie Loeb   Magdalena Fręch
  Katarzyna Kawa
5–7, 1–6
Win 3–5 Jan 2023 Vero Beach International Tennis Open, United States 60,000 Clay   Makenna Jones   Quinn Gleason
  Elixane Lechemia
4–6, 6–3, [10–3]
Win 4–5 Mar 2023 Arcadia Pro Open, United States 60,000 Hard   Christina Rosca   Rina Saigo
  Yukina Saigo
6–1, 6–1
Loss 4–6 Mar 2023 ITF Boca Raton, United States 25,000 Hard   Makenna Jones   Hailey Baptiste
  Whitney Osuigwe
2–6, 2–6

References

edit
  1. ^ Hasselbach, Logan (August 28, 2023). "FRANCESCA DI LORENZO NAMED UCF WOMEN'S TENNIS ASSISTANT COACH". ucfknights.com. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Women's tennis championship: Ohio State's Francesca Di Lorenzo and Miho Kowase take the doubles title". NCAA.com. May 29, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Mitsch, Pat (November 4, 2016). "GET TO KNOW: OHIO STATE'S FRANCESCA DI LORENZO". usta.com. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  4. ^ "Daniela DiLorenzo-Digaeta". Coursicle. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  5. ^ "Francesca Di Lorenzo Bio". Ohio State Buckeyes. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  6. ^ Harwitt, Sandra (September 11, 2015). "Brimming with Italian pride, American Di Lorenzo into girls' semis". usopen.org. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Ohio State Bio". ohiostatebuckeyes.com. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  8. ^ Stone, Lisa (November 12, 2014). "Fall Signing Week '14: Francesca DiLorenzo Chooses Ohio State". tennisrecruiting.net. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  9. ^ "Playing in U.S. Open juniors a big thrill for Di Lorenzo". The Times-Reporter. October 23, 2015. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  10. ^ "CHAMPION! DI LORENZO CAPTURES NATIONAL INDOORS TITLE". ohiostatebuckeyes.com. November 15, 2015. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  11. ^ "BUCKEYES IN THE YEAR END ITA RANKINGS". ohiostatebuckeyes.com. June 2, 2017. Archived from the original on January 24, 2018. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  12. ^ Milano, Sally (November 6, 2016). "DI LORENZO, REDLICKI CAPTURE USTA/ITA NAT'L INDOORS". usta.com. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  13. ^ Marshall, Ashley. "Sharapova headlines US Open women's wild cards". usopen.org. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  14. ^ "DI LORENZO BEGINS PROFESSIONAL CAREER". ohiostatebuckeyes.com. December 18, 2017. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
edit