Tara Moore

Tara Moore
	Moore during 2018 Wimbledon qualifying
Country (sports)	United Kingdom
Residence	Doncaster, England
Born	6 August 1992 (age 32); British Hong Kong
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Turned pro	2010
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	Graham McMullen
Prize money	US$ 598,859
Singles
Career record	374–315
Career titles	9 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 145 (8 May 2017)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	Q1 (2014, 2017)
French Open	Q1 (2013)
Wimbledon	2R (2016)
US Open	Q2 (2016)
Doubles
Career record	264–219
Career titles	17 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 77 (11 July 2022)
Current ranking	No. 606 (15 July 2024)
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open	2R (2022)
Wimbledon	1R (2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2021, 2024)
US Open	2R (2024)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon	3R (2021)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	Europe/Africa Zone Group I – Play-offs (2014) ; Record 1–1
	Last updated on: 16 July 2024.

Tara Shanice Moore (born 6 August 1992) is a Hong Kong-born British tennis player. She achieved career-high rankings by the WTA of 145 in singles and No. 77 in doubles. In her career, she won nine singles titles and 17 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.

As a junior, she was coached by the American tennis coach, Nick Bollettieri. In September 2006, he referred to Moore as one of the best young players in his school, the Bollettieri Tennis Academy, along with Michelle Larcher de Brito.^[1] Her coach was Charles Homewood. Her favourite surface is stated as being grass although most of her titles to date have come on hardcourt.^[2]

Career

2006–2007

Moore's first professional tennis match came in August 2006 at the $10k tournament in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She won two matches to qualify before losing in the first round of the tournament. Moore then moved on to qualify and reach the quarterfinals in only the second ITF tournament of her career in Caracas, Venezuela, another $10k event.^[3]

In 2007, Moore reached the quarterfinals of another $10k event in Irapuato before losing to Ana Clara Duarte of Brazil, in straight sets. In July, she entered her first $25k tournament in Felixstowe, England, where she lost in the qualifying stages. Her next two tournaments were both $10k events in England (Ilkley and Wrexham) and she managed to reach the quarterfinal stages of both of these. She ended the year with three consecutive first-round losses at $25k events. Her year-end ranking for 2007 was world No. 823.^[3]

2008

April and May resulted in three failures to qualify for ITF tournaments, two of which were $25k events, the other a $50k event. She became a quarterfinalist yet again in her next tournament, the $10k in Izmir, Turkey. She then began a successful grass-court season with a wildcard into the qualifying tournament of Wimbledon where she lost in the first round in a valiant three-set battle against former top-40 player Olga Puchkova of Russia. She followed this up immediately with her first ever semifinal in the $25k tournament held in Felixstowe and continued the momentum in the following tournament ($10k Frinton) where she won, beating fellow teenager Mona Barthel of Germany in the final.

Her next noteworthy result of 2008 came on the ITF Circuit in early November at the $10k event in Sunderland, England. She won through two tough three-set matches in the first and second rounds before winning her quarterfinal match in two sets and coming up against Laura Robson, in one of two all-British semifinals. She lost in straight sets to Robson (who was the eventual champion). Immediately after this was the $10k tournament in Jersey. In the second round of this tournament, she played a rematch of her second-round match in the previous tournament in Sunderland. She beat Tetyana Arefyeva in three sets for the second time in two weeks to reach the quarterfinal stage where she was beaten by Katarzyna Piter. She ended season with a singles ranking of world No. 712.^[3]

2009

Moore struggled throughout the year and did not go beyond the quarterfinals in any of the events she competed in. She enjoyed a straight-sets win over former top-20 player Eleni Daniilidou as she qualified for the $50 event in Nottingham. She also competed at the ITF junior events at Roehampton and Wimbledon but lost early in both events as she was drawn against junior world No. 3, Tímea Babos. Post Wimbledon, Moore's best result was qualifying for a $75k event in Shrewsbury before losing to Angelique Kerber. Moore was also asked to leave the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) National Tennis Centre (NTC) as a result of her perceived lack of professionalism and poor attitude. She would end the year in India before heading back to Hong Kong.

2010

New season started very much as 2009 ended for Moore with early losses in her first handful of events. She was training and working out of Hong Kong, following her expulsion from the LTA although in March, Moore began working with British tennis coach John Morris who was also the coach of Tímea Babos, ranked a lowly 790 on the WTA rankings, Moore moved back to Britain to train at Gosling Tennis Academy under the watchful eye of John Morris. Her results started to pick up in spring time of 2010 as she reached the final of a $10k event in Edinburgh, losing to stable mate Tímea Babos, following this up with her first career top-100 win at the $50k event in Nottingham, beating Chang Kai-chen in three tough sets. During the grass-court season, Moore represented Great Britain in the Maureen Connolly trophy, a sign that the LTA were beginning to see the improvements in Moore both on and off court. This was quickly followed by a wildcard into the ITF junior event at Roehampton where Moore beat world junior No. 1, Daria Gavrilova, 6–0, 6–1, before beating the 2010 Australian Open junior champion, Karolína Plíšková, 6–3, 6–1. But Moore found Karolina's twin sister Kristýna Plíšková too hot to handle as Plíšková achieved a rare double of winning both titles at Roehampton and Wimbledon. On to Wimbledon, Moore had some impressive wins and reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal where she played fellow Brit Laura Robson and despite controlling much of the match, Moore lost in two sets although she put herself firmly on the tennis map during the grass-court season and credited John Morris for much of the improvements. Post Wimbledon, Moore won her second career title at a $10k event in Chiswick, as well as her first ITF doubles title, alongside Francesca Stephenson, at a $25k in Wrexham, beating Sania Mirza and Emma Laine in the final. She also made the singles quarterfinals in the latter event, with wins over Emilia Baños Gregorians and Manisha Foster. Moore would go on to reach several quarter- and semifinals before ending the year at the $75k event in Dubai. She achieved several career-high rankings through the year and ended 2010 ranked 370. Moore also became a professional in August 2010 when she signed professional terms with London-based management company Global Tennis Connections (GTC), she also signed a long term deal with Adidas International on the back of her upsurge in form and ranking.

2011–2013

Moore was runner-up in the $10k tournament in Sunderland, and won the $10k in Loughborough where she also won the doubles, partnering fellow Brit Francesca Stephenson. She also reached doubles finals in $10k tournaments in Istanbul, partnering Lisa Whybourn, and in Bath, partnering Emma Laine. She ended 2011 with a singles ranking of No. 332.

Moore won no titles in the 2012 season but finished runner-up in singles in the $50k tournament in Kazan, Russia, and in doubles, partnering fellow Brit player Lucy Brown in a $10k event in Antalya, Turkey. However, she improved her ranking throughout the year, and achieved No. 249 in singles.

She started 2013 winning the $10k singles titles in Glasgow and Preston, and following that with the $25k title in Surprise, Arizona. In partnership with compatriot Melanie South, also winning the doubles titles in Glasgow and in the $25k event in Rancho Mirage, California, and ended runner-up in Preston and in Phuket, Thailand.

Moore debuted in top 200 of the singles rankings on 22 April, and made the cut for the Roland Garros qualifying tournament, her first major outside of Wimbledon, where she has played qualifiers courtesy of wildcards. There she lost to seventh seed Sesil Karatancheva, in the first round of qualifying.

On grass in the UK, Moore was awarded a wildcard into the $75k Nottingham Trophy. She reached the second round, beating 143-ranked Slovenian Tadeja Majerič before falling to 110-ranked Hungarian, Melinda Czink. She then received a wildcard into the WTA Tour Birmingham Classic at Edgbaston where she narrowly lost to 12th seeded Kristina Mladenovic in the first round. This followed with a wildcard into Wimbledon in June, where she faced 46-ranked Estonian, Kaia Kanepi, in the first round. Kanepi went on to win in a close three-setter.^[4]

Back on the ITF Circuit, Moore reached the finals of both the singles and the doubles tournament of the $25k Woking^[5] event on outdoor hardcourt. She lost the singles final to Pemra Özgen in three sets, having held matchpoints. However, she and her Russian partner, Marta Sirotkina, won the doubles, beating Mari Tanaka and Kanae Hisami in the final.

However, in December the LTA cut her funding, citing a lack of results.^[6]

2014–2015

In 2014, Moore made her debut for the British Fed Cup team in the ninth/tenth placed playoff against Austria, and won her first singles rubber.

She impressively saw off Tamira Paszek, a former top-30 player. She also played in Wimbledon as a wildcard but lost in the first round to former Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva in a match that spanned two days. Moore failed to build on her Wimbledon performance on her return to ITF Circuit play, as she won just three singles matches in the rest of the year. She saw her ranking slip outside the top 250 in the world as a consequence.

Her poor form continued in 2015. Playing solely at ITF level, Moore's best result was reaching the semifinals of a $10k tournament in Antalya and a $15k event in Loughborough. This was the first year since 2009 that she had failed to make a singles tournament final. She had more success in doubles, reaching three finals and winning the event Antalya in partnership with Cornelia Lister.^[7]

2016–2019: First WTA Tour doubles final

Moore's 2016 campaign got off to a bright start, as she won her first tournament of the year, a $10k event in Antalya,^[8] beating Anne Schaefer in the final. Following this, Moore and semi-regular doubles partner Conny Perrin played the WTA Tour event in Rio de Janeiro. This was her first WTA event in over two years. Entering would prove a wise choice as Moore and Perrin reached their first ever WTA Tour final,^[9] after a run that included a quarterfinal victory over second seeds Marina Erakovic and Sílvia Soler Espinosa. They were beaten by fourth seeds, Verónica Cepede Royg and María Irigoyen, in the title match.

In April 2019, at a ITF World Tour event in Sunderland against Jessika Ponchet, Moore was trailing 0–6, 0–5 and facing match point, but made a comeback to win 0–6, 7–6, 6–3.^[10]

2024: Return to tennis

Moore returned to competitive tennis for the first time after her suspension was lifted when she teamed up with Annali Olivelle to win an ITF World Tour first-round match against Melania Delai and Francesca Pace in Sardinia on 30 April 2024.^[11]

Partnering with Sarah Beth Grey, she reached her first final since her comeback at the grass-court Surbiton Trophy on 7 June but lost out 6–1, 6–1 to Emina Bektas and Aleksandra Krunic.^[12]

Doping suspension and reinstatement

In June 2022, Moore was suspended for doping violations. Ranked a career high in doubles at the time, she has since fallen completely out of both singles and doubles rankings after being banned from tournaments through at least 2023.^[13]^[14] On 23 December 2023, an independent tribunal panel ruled that the source of the performance enhancing drugs found in her test samples was contaminated meat eaten in South America.^[15]

Personal life

Tara was previously married to fellow professional tennis player Emina Bektas. She was previously in a long-term relationship with her former doubles partner, Conny Perrin.^[16]

WTA career finals

Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam
WTA 1000
WTA 500
International / WTA 250 (0–2)

Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (0–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Feb 2016	Rio Open, Brazil	International	Clay	Conny Perrin	Verónica Cepede Royg María Irigoyen	1–6, 6–7^(1–7)
Loss	0–2	Apr 2022	Copa Colsanitas, Colombia	WTA 250	Clay	Emina Bektas	Astra Sharma Aldila Sutjiadi	6–4, 4–6, [9–11]

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 17 (9 titles, 8 runner–ups)

Legend
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10/15,000 tournaments

Finals by surface
Hard (7–6)
Clay (1–1)
Grass (1–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	July 2008	ITF Frinton, United Kingdom	10,000	Grass	Mona Barthel	7–5, 6–1
Loss	1–1	May 2010	ITF Edinburgh, UK	10,000	Clay	Tímea Babos	2–6, 2–6
Win	2–1	Aug 2010	ITF Chiswick, UK	10,000	Hard	Amy Bowtell	6–3, 6–4
Loss	2–2	Nov 2011	ITF Sunderland, UK	10,000	Hard (i)	Alison Van Uytvanck	4–6, 1–6
Win	3–2	Nov 2011	GB Pro-Series Loughborough, UK	10,000	Hard (i)	Myrtille Georges	7–6⁽⁵⁾, 5–7, 6–4
Loss	3–3	Aug 2012	Tatarstan Open, Russia	50,000	Hard	Kateryna Kozlova	3–6, 3–6
Win	4–3	Jan 2013	GB Pro-Series Glasgow, UK	10,000	Hard (i)	Myrtille Georges	6–4, 6–1
Win	5–3	Jan 2013	ITF Preston, UK	10,000	Hard (i)	Amy Bowtell	7–6⁽²⁾, 6–1
Win	6–3	Feb 2013	ITF Surprise, United States	25,000	Hard	Louisa Chirico	6–3, 6–1
Loss	6–4	Aug 2013	ITF Woking, UK	25,000	Hard	Pemra Özgen	6–3, 5–7, 6–7⁽⁸⁾
Win	7–4	Jan 2014	GB Pro-Series Glasgow, UK (2)	10,000	Hard	Myrtille Georges	6–3, 6–1
Win	8–4	Jan 2016	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Clay	Anne Schäfer	2–6, 7–5, 6–0
Loss	8–5	Jun 2016	Eastbourne Trophy, UK	50,000	Grass	Alison Riske	6–4, 6–7⁽⁵⁾, 3–6
Loss	8–6	Aug 2016	ITF Fort Worth, United States	25,000	Hard	Caitlin Whoriskey	0–6, 4–6
Loss	8–7	Jan 2017	ITF Hong Kong	25,000	Hard	Lee Ya-hsuan	6–2, 6–7⁽⁴⁾, 3–6
Win	9–7	Apr 2018	ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	15,000	Hard	Eleni Kordolaimi	6–0, 6–1
Loss	9–8	Apr 2018	ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	15,000	Hard	Julia Terziyska	2–6, 6–4, 4–6

Doubles: 42 (17 titles, 25 runner-ups)

Legend
$80,000 tournaments
$50/60,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10/15,000 tournaments

Finals by surface
Hard (15–18)
Clay (2–4)
Grass (0–2)
Carpet (0–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Nov 2008	ITF Sunderland, UK	10,000	Hard (i)	Katharina Brown	Daniëlle Harmsen Kim Kilsdonk	7–6⁽⁴⁾, 4–6, [4–10]
Loss	0–2	Nov 2008	ITF Jersey, UK	10,000	Hard (i)	Elizabeth Thomas	Daniëlle Harmsen Kim Kilsdonk	6–7⁽⁴⁾, 4–6
Loss	0–3	May 2010	ITF Edinburgh, UK	10,000	Clay	Tímea Babos	Amanda Elliott Jocelyn Rae	6–7⁽⁵⁾, 4–6
Win	1–3	Jul 2010	ITF Wrexham, UK	25,000	Hard	Francesca Stephenson	Emma Laine Sania Mirza	2–6, 6–3, [13–11]
Loss	1–4	Nov 2010	ITF Sunderland, UK	10,000	Hard (i)	Francesca Stephenson	Amanda Elliott Anna Fitzpatrick	2–6, 3–6
Loss	1–5	Mar 2011	GB Pro-Series Bath, UK	10,000	Hard (i)	Emma Laine	Giulia Gatto-Monticone Anastasia Grymalska	4–6, 6–2, [6–10]
Loss	1–6	Aug 2011	ITF İstanbul, Turkey	10,000	Hard (i)	Lisa Whybourn	Christina Shakovets Ashvarya Shrivastava	6–3, 6–1
Win	2–6	Nov 2011	GB Pro-Series Loughborough, UK	10,000	Hard (i)	Francesca Stephenson	Malou Ejdesgaard Amanda Elliott	3–6, 6–2, [10–3]
Loss	2–7	Apr 2012	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Lucy Brown	Lu Jiajing Lu Jiaxiang	1–6, 0–6
Win	3–7	Jan 2013	GB Pro-Series Glasgow, UK	10,000	Hard (i)	Melanie South	Anna Smith Francesca Stephenson	7–6⁽⁵⁾, 6–3
Loss	3–8	Jan 2013	ITF Preston, UK	10,000	Hard (i)	Melanie South	Samantha Murray Jade Windley	3–6, 6–3, [5–10]
Win	4–8	Feb 2013	ITF Rancho Mirage, United States	25,000	Hard (i)	Melanie South	Jan Abaza Louisa Chirico	4–6, 6–2, [12–10]
Loss	4–9	Apr 2013	ITF Phuket, Thailand	25,000	Hard (i)	Melanie South	Nicha Lertpitaksinchai Peangtarn Plipuech	6–3, 5–7, [11–9]
Win	5–9	Jul 2013	ITF Woking, UK	25,000	Hard	Marta Sirotkina	Kanae Hisami Mari Tanaka	4–6, 6–1, [10–7]
Win	6–9	Mar 2014	ITF Preston, UK	25,000	Hard	Marta Sirotkina	Timea Bacsinszky Kristina Barrois	3–6, 6–1, [13–11]
Loss	6–10	Feb 2015	GB Pro-Series Glasgow, UK	25,000	Hard (i)	Conny Perrin	Corinna Dentoni Claudia Giovine	6–0, 1–6, [7–10]
Win	7–10	Mar 2015	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Clay	Cornelia Lister	Kim Grajdek Alexandra Nancarrow	7–6⁽⁰⁾, 7–5
Loss	7–11	Jun 2015	Surbiton Trophy, UK	50,000	Grass	Nicola Slater	Lyudmyla Kichenok Xenia Knoll	6–7⁽⁶⁾, 3–6
Loss	7–12	Jul 2015	ITF Rome, Italy	25,000	Clay	Conny Perrin	Claudia Giovine Despina Papamichail	4–6, 6–7⁽²⁾
Loss	7–13	Feb 2016	ITF São Paulo, Brazil	25,000	Clay	Conny Perrin	Catalina Pella Daniela Seguel	3–6, 1–6
Loss	7–14	Feb 2017	AK Ladies Open, Germany	25,000	Carpet (i)	Conny Perrin	Alexandra Cadanțu Cornelia Lister	2–6, 6–3, [9–11]
Loss	7–15	Mar 2017	ITF Pula, Italy	25,000	Clay	Conny Perrin	Olesya Pervushina Dayana Yastremska	4–6, 4–6
Win	8–15	Sep 2017	ITF Albuquerque, United States	80,000	Hard	Conny Perrin	Viktorija Golubic Amra Sadiković	6–3, 6–3
Loss	8–16	Oct 2017	ITF Florence, United States	25,000	Hard	Amra Sadikovic	Maria Sanchez Taylor Townsend	1–6, 2–6
Loss	8–17	Feb 2018	GB Pro-Series Loughborough, UK	25,000	Hard (i)	Conny Perrin	Michaëlla Krajicek Bibiane Schoofs	7–6⁽⁵⁾, 1–6, [6–10]
Win	9–17	Mar 2018	ITF São Paulo, Brazil	25,000	Clay	Conny Perrin	Hsu Chieh-yu Marcela Zacarías	6–4, 3–6, [13–11]
Win	10–17	Apr 2018	ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	15,000	Hard	Eleni Kordolaimi	Rutuja Bhosale Kanika Vaidya	6–4, 6–1
Loss	10–18	May 2018	Fukuoka International, Japan	60,000	Carpet	Amra Sadikovic	Naomi Broady Asia Muhammad	2–6, 0–6
Loss	10–19	Oct 2018	ITF Florence, United States	25,000	Hard	Conny Perrin	Anna Danilina Ulrikke Eikeri	7–6⁽⁹⁾, 2–6, [8–10]
Win	11–19	Oct 2018	Challenger de Saguenay, Canada	60,000	Hard (i)	Conny Perrin	Sharon Fichman Maria Sanchez	6–0, 5–7, [10–7]
Loss	11–20	Mar 2019	ITF Nishitama, Japan	25,000	Hard	Emina Bektas	Haruna Arakawa Minori Yonehara	4–6, 3–6
Loss	11–21	Mar 2019	Kōfu International Open, Japan	25,000	Hard	Emina Bektas	Chang Kai-chen Hsu Ching-wen	1–6, 3–6
Loss	11–22	Apr 2019	ITF Sunderland, UK	25,000	Hard (i)	Emina Bektas	Maja Chwalińska Ulrikke Eikeri	4–6, 6–3, [9–11]
Win	12–22	Sep 2019	ITF Redding, United States	25,000	Hard	Emina Bektas	Catherine Harrison Paige Hourigan	6–3, 6–1
Win	13–22	Oct 2019	ITF Florence, United States	25,000	Hard	Emina Bektas	Olivia Tjandramulia Marcela Zacarias	7-5, 6–4
Win	14–22	Jan 2021	Georgia's Rome Open, United States	60,000	Hard	Emina Bektas	Olga Govortsova Jovana Jović	5–7, 6–2, [10–8]
Win	15–22	Feb 2021	ITF Orlando, United States	25,000	Hard	Emina Bektas	Conny Perrin Camila Osorio	7–5, 2–6, [10–5]
Loss	15–23	Mar 2021	ITF Newport Beach, United States	25,000	Hard	Emina Bektas	Vania King Maegan Manasse	4–6, 2–6
Win	16–23	Apr 2021	Dubai Challenge, UAE	25,000	Hard	Emina Bektas	Berfu Cengiz İpek Öz	7–5, 4–6, [10–7]
Loss	16–24	Oct 2021	Las Vegas Open, United States	60,000	Hard	Emina Bektas	Quinn Gleason Tereza Mihalíková	6–7⁽⁵⁾, 5–7
Win	17–24	Jan 2022	Traralgon International, Australia	60,000	Hard	Emina Bektas	Catherine Harrison Aldila Sutjiadi	0–6, 7–6⁽¹⁾, [10-8]
Loss	17–25	Feb 2022	Georgia's Rome Open, United States	60,000	Hard (i)	Emina Bektas	Sophie Chang Angela Kulikov	3–6, 7–6⁽²⁾, [7–10]