Claire Curran

89, and won a total of 12 ITF titles over the course of her career and was a finalist in one WTA Tour event and was the key doubles players in the Great British Fed Cup teams of the mid 2000s.

She was soon winning Ulster and all-Ireland titles and being singled out by the Irish tennis authorities for a promising amateur career on the ITF Junior Circuit.

At the age of 14, during the troubled times of Northern Ireland, beset with political and religious divisions, Curran moved to Dublin.

She attained a singles ranking inside the top 100 and in 1993 became the youngest person to have represented Ireland in the Fed Cup, at the age of 15 years and 3 months.

The duo then received a wild card into the doubles competition in the US Open where they drew the formidable pairing of Martina Hingis and Mary Pierce in the first round.

In the Fed Cup, she and O'Riain were beaten by doubles teams from Netherlands and Great Britain but managed a victory against Poland.

[5] Curran won her first three ITF event of the year and went on to reach the semifinals in her fourth, giving her a winning streak of 14 matches at the start of the season.

In June, she partnered Jane O'Donoghue in the qualifying tournament for Wimbledon where they lost in the first round but were given a spot in the main draw as lucky losers where they were beaten in straight sets.

Curran and Grandin then entered the Tier III Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali where they were beaten in the first round by Gisela Dulko and Milagros Sequera, 6–0, 6–1.

[5] In February 2005, Curran partnered Kim Kilsdonk and the duo lost in the first round of the Tier-II event in Paris, the Open Gaz de France.

This was followed by a run to the semifinals at the İstanbul Cup (Tier III) partnering Kim Kilsdonk where they lost, 3–6, 3–6, to Sandra and Daniela Klemenschits.

June saw Curran and Grandin knocked out in the first round of the women's doubles at Wimbledon by Nadia Petrova and Meghann Shaughnessy.

Curran then partnered Kilsdonk to reach the final at the $50k in Pétange before reaching three successive WTA quarterfinals: the Budapest Grand Prix (with Rika Fujiwara), the Nordic Light Open (partnering María José Martínez Sánchez) and the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic (with Grandin).

This was followed by a number of first-round losses in WTA tournaments before she competed with Elena Baltacha in the Fed Cup representing Great Britain.

In June she joined Shenay Perry to reach the quarterfinals of the Aegon International where they were beaten by Liezel Huber and Martina Navratilova, 6–4, 6–2.

[5] In February 2007, Claire teamed with Anne Keothavong to win the title in London ($25k) and in March, she and Melanie South were runners-up in another $25k, this one in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

For the second year in a row she reached the second round of the mixed doubles with Auckland but after Wimbledon decided that her career as a professional tennis player had come to an end.