Jelena Pandžić

Jelena Pandžić (; born 17 March, 1983) is a retired tennis player from Croatia.

Tennis career She began playing tennis at the age of seven and was considered a very promising junior player, achieving a world No. 1 ranking in the under-14 category. In the mid-1990s, she was spotted by Nick Bollettieri who personally coached her for a time.

1999–2002 Pandžić's first senior tournament on the ITF Circuit was in April 1999 where she qualified and reached the quarterfinals of the Makarska $10k tournament. By 2002, she had made some progress up the rankings, winning three ITF singles titles, but had not yet fulfilled her initial promise. Her highest ranking was 374, achieved in October 2002.

2003–2006 In 2003, Pandžić only played one game of tennis before a car crash put her out of action. Over the next few years, she did not play in any professional ranking tournaments. Instead, she attended university in the USA and played on the college tennis circuit, representing Fresno Pacific University.

The end of 2008 saw Pandžić losing repeatedly in first rounds, and this continued through January 2009, when she disclosed she has been playing with a calf injury for some time, and was not sure if she will be able to continue playing professional tennis.

2010 At the end of May 2010, Pandžić started her second comeback by qualifying for and winning a $10k event in Sumter, South Carolina. In addition to playing well in a number of other ITF events, she has used her protected ranking of 136 to enter some WTA tournaments as well, losing tight matches to high ranked players. In a time of just over three months, she has accumulated 50 points and a record of 16–5 and is ranked 548 as of early August. She entered the qualifying of the US Open beating Sarah Gronert in the first round before losing to Alexandra Panova, 2–6, 3–6 in the second.

ITF Circuit finals Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $15,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Singles: 16 (11–5) ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 1. 21 August 2000 ITF Westende, Belgium Clay Lisa Fritz 2–6, 6–3, 4–6Loss 2. 26 March 2001 ITF Amiens, France Clay Sophie Erre 7–6, 3–6, 6–7 Win 3. 15 October 2001 ITF Makarska, Croatia Clay Petra Dizdar 1–6, 7–5, 6–1Win 4. 11 March 2002 ITF Makarska, Croatia Clay Libuše Průšová 6–1, 2–6, 7–6Win 5. 26 August 2002 ITF Spoleto, Italy Clay Shelley Stephens 7–5, 6–1Loss 6. 3 June 2007 ITF Houston, United States Hard (i) Asia Muhammad 3–6, 6–4, 4–6Win 7. 19 June 2007 ITF Fort Worth, United States Hard Lauren Embree 6–4, 6–1Win 8. 26 June 2007 ITF Edmond, United States Hard Gabriela Paz 3–6, 6–1, 6–4Win 9. 17 July 2007 ITF Wichita, United States Hard Gabriela Paz 6–4, 6–4Win 10. 31 July 2007 ITF St. Joseph, United States Hard Stacia Fonseca 6–3, 6–1Win 11. 24 May 2010 ITF Sumter, United States Hard Alexis King 6–2, 1–6, 6–2Loss 12. 13 September 2010 ITF Redding, United States Hard Jamie Hampton 6–3, 1–6, 4–6Loss 13. 18 June 2012 ITF Cologne, Germany Clay Julia Kimmelmann 2–6, 6–1, 5–7Win 14. 13 August 2012 ITF Brčko, Bosnia-Herzegovina Hard Tamara Čurović 6–3, 4–1 ret.Win 15. 18 March 2013 ITF Ipswich, Australia Hard Storm Sanders 7–5, 2–6, 6–2Win 16. 19 August 2013 ITF San Luis Potosi, Mexico Hard Ana Sofía Sánchez 6–4, 6–4

Doubles: 8 (5–3) ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1. 7 August 2000 ITF Rebecq, Belgium Clay Lenka Snajdrova Debbrich Feys Karin Kues 6–7(5), 6–2, 6–4Loss 2. 26 March 2001 ITF Amiens, France Clay Bianca Cremer Olivia Cappelletti Julie Coin 5–7, 1–6Loss 3. 13 August 2001 ITF Koksijde, Belgium Clay Marina Lazarovska Lenka Snajdrova Aleksandra Srndovic 2–6, 4–6Win 4. 22 July 2007 ITF Wichita, United States Hard Jennifer Elie Anna Egorova Madina Rakhim 6–2, 3–6, 6–1Win 5. 9 August 2008 ITF Monterrey, Mexico Hard Magdaléna Rybáriková Monique Adamczak Melanie South 4–6, 6–4, [10–8]Win 6. 28 September 2008 ITF Ashland, United States Hard Līga Dekmeijere Julie Ditty Carly Gullickson 6–3, 3–6, [10–8]Loss 7. 13 September 2010 ITF Redding, United States Hard Kim Anh Nguyen Christina Fusano Yasmin Schnack 2–6, 6–3, [6–10]Win 8. 13 August 2012 ITF Brčko, Bosnia-Herzegovina Hard Karla Popović Dagmara Bašková Tereza Malíková 6–3, 6–2