Claudia Kohde-Kilsch

Claudia Kohde-Kilsch (born December 11, 1963 in Saarbrücken) is a former German tennis player. She was born Claudia Kohde, but added the hyphenated "-Kilsch" to her name which came from her adoptive father Jurgen Kilsch, an attorney. She has 1 younger sister, Katrin. She began playing tennis when she only 5, and was soon a rising junior player.

Career

Kohde-Kilsch turned professional on January 1, 1980 and by 1981 she had handed a rare first round defeat to Martina Navrátilová in Oakland. She went on to win Gstaad, the Austrian Open, and Toronto that year. In 1982 she captured the title at Pittsburgh, and in 1984 she triumphed at the German Open defeating Kathleen Horvath of the United States, 7–6(8), 6–1. In 1985 she reached the French Open semi-finals, and also won in Los Angeles. Later that year she defeated Navrátilová in the quarter-finals on the way to a final round match with Chris Evert at the Canadian Open, where she eventually lost to Evert, 6–2, 6–4. In 1987 she again reached the finals of the German Open, where she lost to a rising Steffi Graf 6–2, 6–3.

In doubles play, Kohde-Kilsch was a winner of the 1985 US Open women's doubles championship with Helena Suková and in 1987 partnering again with Suková she took the 1987 Wimbledon women's doubles championship. Between 1983 and 1987 Kohde-Kilsch and Suková , fondly called the "twin towers" for their height, paired to win 19 doubles tournaments. At the 1988 Summer Olympics she partnered with Steffi Graf in the doubles competition, and together they were awarded the bronze medal in the event.

Kohde-Kilsch currently lives in Saarland with her husband, Chris Bennett, and their son, Fynn. The couple operate CeKay Music, a music publishing house and production company.

Grand Slam women's doubles finals (8)

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1985	U.S. Open	Helena Suková	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6–7, 6–2, 6–3
1987	Wimbledon	Helena Suková	Betsy Nagelsen Elizabeth Smylie	7–5, 7–5

Runner-ups (6)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1982	Australian Open	Eva Pfaff	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6–4, 6–2
1984	French Open	Hana Mandlíková	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	5–7, 6–3, 6–2
1984	Australian Open	Helena Suková	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6–3, 6–4
1985	Australian Open (2)	Helena Suková	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6–3, 6–4
1985	French Open (2)	Helena Suková	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	4–6, 6–2, 6–2
1988	French Open (3)	Helena Suková	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6–2, 7–5

WTA Tour titles (31)

Singles wins (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Finaliste	Score
1.	July 13, 1981	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Sylvia Hanika	7–5, 7–6
2.	15 March 1982	Austin, USA	Carpet (i)	Helena Suková	7–6, 0–6, 6–3
3.	14 May 1984	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Kathleen Horvath	7–6(8), 6–1
4.	29 July 1985	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Pam Shriver	6–2, 6–4
5.	06 June 1988	Birmingham, UK	Grass	Pam Shriver	6–2, 6–1
6.	10 September 1990	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Rachel McQuillan	7–6(5), 6–4

Doubles titles (25)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	21 July 1980	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Eva Pfaff	Renáta Tomanová Hana Mandlíková	w/o
2.	13 July 1981	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Eva Pfaff	Elizabeth Little Yvonne Vermaak	6–4, 6–3
3.	21 February 1983	Oakland, USA	Carpet (i)	Eva Pfaff	Rosie Casals Wendy Turnbull	6–4, 4–6, 6–4
4.	04 July 1983	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Bettina Bunge	Ivanna Madruga-Osses Catherine Tanvier	7–5, 6–4
5.	09 April 1984	Hilton Head, USA	Clay	Hana Mandlíková	Anne Hobbs Sharon Walsh	7–5, 6–2
6.	23 April 1984	Orlando, USA	Clay	Hana Mandlíková	Anne Hobbs Wendy Turnbull	6–0, 1–6, 6–3
7.	15 October 1984	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard (i)	Helena Suková	Bettina Bunge Eva Pfaff	6–2, 4–6, 6–3
8.	19 November 1984	Sydney, Australia	Grass	Helena Suková	Wendy Turnbull Sharon Walsh	6–2, 7–6(4)
9.	10 December 1984	Tokyo/Pan Pacific, Japan	Carpet (i)	Helena Suková	Elizabeth Smylie Catherine Tanvier	6–4, 6–4
10.	13 May 1985	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Helena Suková	Steffi Graf Catherine Tanvier	6–4, 6–1
11.	29 July 1985	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Helena Suková	Hana Mandlíková Wendy Turnbull	6–4, 6–2
12.	26 August 1985	US Open, Flushing Meadows	Hard	Helena Suková	Martina Navrátilová Pam Shriver	6–7(5), 6–2, 6–3
13.	09 December 1985	Tokyo/Pan Pacific, Japan	Carpet (i)	Helena Suková	Marcella Mesker Elizabeth Smylie	6–0, 6–4
14.	10 March 1986	Dallas, USA	Carpet (i)	Helena Suková	Hana Mandlíková Wendy Turnbull	4–6, 7–5, 6–4
15.	14 April 1986	Amelia Island, USA	Clay	Helena Suková	Gabriela Sabatini Catherine Tanvier	6–2, 5–7, 7–6(7)
16.	10 November 1986	Chicago, USA	Carpet (i)	Helena Suková	Steffi Graf Gabriela Sabatini	6–7(5), 7–6(5), 6–3
17.	30 January 1987	WTA Tour Championships, Tokyo, Japan	Carpet (i)	Helena Suková	Elise Burgin Pam Shriver	6–1, 7–6(5)
18.	11 May 1987	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Helena Suková	Catarina Lindqvist Tine Scheuer-Larsen	6–1, 6–2
19.	22 June 1987	Wimbledon, UK	Grass	Helena Suková	Betsy Nagelsen Elizabeth Smylie	7–5, 7–5
20.	21 September 1987	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Jana Novotná	Natalia Egorova Leila Meskhi	7–6(1), 7–6(6)
21.	09 November 1987	Chicago, USA	Carpet (i)	Helena Suková	Zina Garrison Lori McNeil	6–4, 6–3
22.	28 November 1988	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Sylvia Hanika	Lori McNeil Jana Novotná	7–5, 6–7(4), 6–4
23.	04 February 1991	Oslo, Norway	Carpet (i)	Silke Meier	Sabine Appelmans Raffaella Reggi	3–6, 6–2, 6–4
24.	01 April 1991	Hilton Head, USA	Clay	Natasha Zvereva	Mary Lou Daniels Lise Gregory	6–4, 6–0
25.	24 February 1992	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Stephanie Rehe	Jill Hetherington Kathy Rinaldi-Stunkel	6–3, 6–3

References

External links

• Official website