Steffi Carruthers

Steffi Carruthers
Full nameSteffi Faasusivaitele Hethrington Carruthers
Country (sports) Samoa
 Pacific Oceania (Fed Cup)
Born (1993-05-24) 24 May 1993 (age 31)
Apia, Samoa
PlaysRight (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$20,223
Singles
Career record88–105
Highest rankingNo. 662 (13 October 2014)
Doubles
Career record42–67
Career titles2 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 556 (16 November 2015)
Team competitions
Fed Cup11–11

Steffi Faasusivaitele Hearthington Carruthers (born 24 May 1993) is a Samoan former tennis player. She is the first Samoan woman to play professional tennis and the first Pacific Oceanian player to win a professional tournament.[1][2]

Carruthers is from the village of Vailima, and was educated at Vaiala Beach School and Samoa College.[3] and has played tennis since the age of 5, and competed in her first international tournament at the age of 10.[4] She is named after German tennis player Steffi Graf.[3][4]

Carruthers has career-high WTA rankings of 662 in singles and 556 in doubles. In her career, she won two ITF titles in doubles.

Playing for Pacific Oceania in Fed Cup, Carruthers has a win-loss record of 11–11.

Carruthers began training to become a professional in 2012,[5][6] and played her first professional season in 2014.[7] She later competed in the 2017 Pacific Mini Games in Port Vila, Vanuatu, winning gold in the doubles,[8] gold in the singles,[9] silver in the mixed doubles, and bronze in the women's team events. At the 2019 Pacific Games in Apia she won silver in the women's team event.

In 2016 she was nominated as Sports Woman of the Year in the annual SASNOC sports awards.[4][10]

ITF finals

Doubles (2–1)

Legend
$100,000 tournaments
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$15,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments
Finals by surface
Hard (1–1)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1. 6 June 2015 ITF Manzanillo, Mexico Hard Mexico Carolina Betancourt United States Tornado Alicia Black
United States Dasha Ivanova
6–3, 6–3
Win 2. 12 September 2015 ITF Bol, Croatia Clay Russia Alina Silich Slovakia Barbara Kotelesova
Slovenia Natalija Sipek
7–6(3), 3–6, [10–5]
Loss 1. 6 November 2015 GB Pro-Series Loughborough, United Kingdom Hard Mexico Sabastiani Leon United Kingdom Freya Christie
United Kingdom Lisa Whybourn
1–6, 2–6

ITF Junior Circuit finals

Category G1
Category G2
Category G3
Category G4
Category G5

Singles (0–1)

Result No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1. 2 October 2010 Auckland, New Zealand Hard New Caledonia Anaève Pain 1–6, 0–6

Doubles (5–3)

Result No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1. 27 June 2008 Nouméa, New Caledonia Hard New Caledonia Anaève Pain Papua New Guinea Abigail Tere-Apisah
Australia Harriet Sheahan
6–7(6), 6–0, 1–6
Win 2. 5 July 2008 Lautoka, Fiji Hard New Caledonia Anaève Pain Singapore Celina Goetti
Indonesia Athena Nathalia
6–2, 7–6(5)
Win 3. 31 January 2009 Christchurch, New Zealand Hard New Caledonia Anaève Pain New Zealand Leela Beattie
Australia Gabrielle Grady
5–7, 6–2, [10–4]
Loss 4. 19 July 2009 Darwin, Australia Hard Papua New Guinea Abigail Tere-Apisah Japan Miyu Kato
Japan Risa Ozaki
3–6, 6–3, [9–11]
Win 5. 26 June 2010 Nouméa, New Caledonia Hard Australia Emily Burns Japan Kaede Amano
Japan Asuka Sakamoto
6–2, 6–3
Loss 6. 4 July 2010 Lautoka, Fiji Hard New Caledonia Anaève Pain New Zealand Emily Fanning
New Zealand Heidi Stewart
1–6, 0–6
Win 7. 25 September 2010 Hamilton, New Zealand Hard New Caledonia Anaève Pain New Zealand Paige Hourigan
New Zealand Claudia Williams
6–4, 6–1
Win 8. 2 October 2010 Auckland, New Zealand Hard New Caledonia Anaève Pain New Zealand Carli Davis
New Zealand Danielle Feneridis
6–2, 6–4

Fed Cup participation

Singles (4–5)

Edition Round Date Location Against Surface Opponent W/L Score
2015 Fed Cup
Asia/Oceania Zone Group II
R/R 14 April 2015 Hyderabad, India Indonesia Indonesia Hard (i) Indonesia Deria Nur Haliza L 2–6, 0–6
15 April 2015 Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Thisuri Molligoda W 6–2, 6–7(5), 6–1
P/O 17 April 2015 Singapore Singapore Singapore Wee Khee-yen W 6–2, 6–0
2016 Fed Cup
Asia/Oceania Zone Group II
R/R 11 April 2016 Hua Hin, Thailand Hong Kong Hong Kong Hard Hong Kong Zhang Ling L 5–7, 3–6
12 April 2016 Iran Iran Iran Sara Amiri W 6–0, 6–1
13 April 2016 Philippines Philippines Philippines Katharina Lehnert L 0–6, 2–6
P/O 16 April 2016 Indonesia Indonesia Indonesia Deria Nur Haliza L 3–6, 1–6
2017 Fed Cup
Asia/Oceania Zone Group II
R/R 19 July 2017 Dushanbe, Tajikistan Iran Iran Hard Iran Yasmin Mansouri W 6–4, 6–2
20 July 2017 Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong Eudice Chong L 5–7, 3–6

Doubles (1–2)

Edition Round Date Location Against Surface Partner Opponents W/L Score
2015 Fed Cup
Asia/Oceania Zone Group II
R/R 15 April 2015 Hyderabad, India Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Hard (i) New Zealand Brittany Teei Sri Lanka Amreetha Muttiah
Sri Lanka Medhira Samarasinghe
W 6–3, 3–6, 6–3
2016 Fed Cup
Asia/Oceania Zone Group II
R/R 11 April 2016 Hua Hin, Thailand Hong Kong Hong Kong Hard Papua New Guinea Abigail Tere-Apisah Hong Kong Sher Chun-wing
Hong Kong Zhang Ling
L 3–6, 2–6
13 April 2016 Philippines Philippines Papua New Guinea Abigail Tere-Apisah Philippines Khim Iglupas
Philippines Katharina Lehnert
L 4–6, 3–6

References

  1. ^ "Exclusive Interview with Samoan Tennis Player Steffi Carruthers". The What I Do. 29 October 2014. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014.
  2. ^ "Sport: Samoa's Steffie Carruthers wins pro event". RNZ. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Steffi keen to shine". Fiji Times. 8 July 2008. p. 25 – via EBSCOHost.
  4. ^ a b c Vatapuia Maiava (23 April 2016). "Samoa's very own tennis star". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  5. ^ "Sport: Samoa's Carruthers ready for hard slog in professional ranks". RNZ. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  6. ^ "Moomia se fesoasoani mo Steffi Carruthers" (in Samoan). Samoa Times. 15 October 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  7. ^ "Sport: Tennis a learning game for Samoa's Carruthers". RNZ. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  8. ^ "Tennis pair secures Samoa another gold". Samoa Observer. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  9. ^ Ulimasao Fata (16 December 2017). "Carruthers wins one more gold for Samoa". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  10. ^ "Sports Awards: The finalists named". Samoa Observer. 12 April 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2023.