Iva Majoli (born 12 August 1977) is a Croatian former professional tennis player who played for both Yugoslavia and Croatia.
[1] Majoli was born in Zagreb in SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia to Stanko (father), and Dragica (mother).
In her early years, Iva Majoli was coached by her father Stanko, Jelena Genčić,[2] and Nick Bollettieri, whose academy she joined in 1990.
Other notable results include a semifinal showing at Indian Wells (lost to Graf), a semifinal at Hilton Head (beat world no.6 Gabriela Sabatini for her first career top-10 victory, lost to Conchita Martínez in 3s), and at the Acura U.S. Women's Hardcourt Championships where she beat Pam Shriver and Mary Joe Fernández, before losing to Sánchez Vicario.
In November, Majoli qualified for the year-end championship at the Virginia Slims of New York for the first time in her career, losing to Novotná in the first round.
In October the same year she recorded a 10-match winning streak which included four top-10 victories and her first two WTA titles in two consecutive weeks.
The following week Majoli won the WTA Filderstadt, again beating Pierce and Rubin and upsetting Gabriela Sabatini in the final 6-4 7–6.
After the Australian Open, Majoli captured her second Tier I title in Tokyo, where she beat the reigning world no.
After reaching at least the final in three of the last four tournaments, Majoli lost in the quarterfinals of Hilton Head and the second round of WTA Bol in her native Croatia.
She qualified for the season-ending WTA finals for the third year in a row, beating Huber and Martinez and losing to Hingis in the semifinals.
The most successful season of Iva Majoli's career started with a quarterfinal showing at Sydney and a loss to Patty Schnyder in the first round of the Australian Open.
She bounced back in February, winning her first title of the season (fifth in career) at Hanover (beat Novotná in the final after saving a match point).
In June, she won the 1997 French Open singles title, defeating Sandra Kleinová, Alexandra Fusai, Ann Grossman, Lindsay Davenport (after trailing 7:5 4:0), Ruxandra Dragomir and Amanda Coetzer (winning the last five games in the third set, after falling behind 2-5).
Majoli followed this with her career-best showing at Wimbledon, where she beat Irina Spîrlea in the 4th round (9-7 third set) to reach the quarterfinals (l. to Anna Kournikova).
She went 7-9 for the rest of the season, reaching two semifinals (in Atlanta and Chicago) and qualifying for the season-ending WTA finals for the fourth consecutive year (l. to Tauziat in the quarterfinals).
In 1998 Majoli's best results were SF in February at 1998 Toray Pan Pacific Open (l. to Hingis) and EA-Generali Ladies Linz, where she suffered a back injury and retired during match vs. Van Roost.
At 20 years of age, this was the last top-10 victory of Majoli's career and her final showing in a second week of a Grand Slam tournament.
Majoli missed the Italian and German Opens, Roland Garros and Wimbledon due to the right shoulder injury and lost in the 1st round in the next five events.
459, Majoli won her first match in over 11 months at Hilton Head, and reached her first WTA semifinal in over two years in Madrid.
She played all four Grand Slams for the first time since 1998, and reached another singles final at the 2001 Challenge Bell in Quebec (l. to Meghann Shaughnessy).
However, her ranking started to continually decline since, and Majoli only reached one more WTA semifinal in the next two years (at 2003 Sarasota Clay Court Classic).
Majoli made a brief comeback in professional tennis at the 2015 Kremlin Cup, where she received a wildcard with Anastasia Bukhanko in the doubles draw.
She married a local businessman, Stipe Marić, on 9 September 2006, with Jennifer Capriati and Mary Pierce attending the wedding.