Bernarda Pera (/bərˈnɑːrdəˈpɛrə/bər-NAR-də PERR-ə;[1]Croatian pronunciation:[běrnaːrdapêra];[2][3] born 3 December 1994) is a Croatian-American professional tennis player. Pera has won two singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, along with nine singles and eight doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She achieved career-high rankings of world No. 27 in singles on June 12, 2023, and No. 35 in doubles on February 21, 2022. Before March 2013, Pera represented her country of birth, Croatia.
Early life
Bernarda was born in a Croatian-Dalmatian Italian family. In addition to English, she speaks Croatian. When she was 16, her father, who is a U.S. citizen, moved their family to the United States for the benefit of her budding tennis career. They settled in New Jersey, where friends and relatives already were living. Pera has been in a relationship with Croatian basketball player Kristijan Krajina since 2018.[4]
Pera started her 2020 season at the Brisbane International where she lost in the first round of qualifying to Marta Kostyuk. Coming through qualifying at the first edition of the Adelaide International, she beat Barbora Strýcová in the first round[8] and was defeated in the second by sixth seed Aryna Sabalenka.[9] At the Australian Open, she lost in the first round to 29th seed Elena Rybakina.
Starting into the clay-court season at the Charleston Open, Pera fell in the first round to Alizé Cornet.[28] At Istanbul, she faced third seed Veronika Kudermetova in the first round; after pushing her to three sets, she ended up losing the match.[29] Getting past qualifying at the Madrid Open, she was defeated in the second round by eighth seed Belinda Bencic.[30] Making it through the qualifying rounds in Rome, she lost her second-round encounter against 12th seed Garbiñe Muguruza.[31] Competing at the first edition of the Emilia-Romagna Open, she was defeated in the first round by seventh seed Sorribes Tormo.[32] At the French Open, she took top seed and 2019 champion, Ashleigh Barty, to three sets but ended up losing her first-round match.[33] In doubles, she and Magda Linette reached semifinals in which they lost to second seeds Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková.[34]
Getting past qualifying at Eastbourne, Pera was defeated in the first round by top seed and 2018 finalist, Aryna Sabalenka.[35] At Wimbledon, she lost in the first round to Nao Hibino.[36]
In August, Pera traveled to Montreal to play the Canadian Open where she was defeated in the first round of qualifying by Harriet Dart. In doubles at the same tournament, she reached her first WTA 1000 semifinal with Magda Linette.
2022: First career titles, top 35 in doubles, top 50 in singles
Pera won her first WTA Tour title in doubles, at the Melbourne Summer Set 2, alongside Kateřina Siniaková.[42] As a result, she reached world No. 35 in doubles on 21 February 2022.
Coming into the Budapest Grand Prix, Pera had only won two out of seven main-draw matches in 2022, was on a five-match losing streak, and had to play in qualifying once again due to being ranked No. 130 in the world. However, she defeated Marina Bassols Ribera, fifth seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich,[43]Elisabetta Cocciaretto, and ninth seed Anna Bondár[44] to reach her first WTA Tour singles final as a qualifier. She then defeated Aleksandra Krunić to win her maiden singles title.[45] As a result, she returned to the top 100 in the singles rankings.
She reached a second consecutive final at the Hamburg European Open by beating the defending champion Elena-Gabriela Ruse, and Joanne Züger, Kateřina Siniaková, and Maryna Zanevska. She then upset top seed and world No. 2, Anett Kontaveit, in the final, for her second career top-10 win and her second career singles title, stretching her winning streak to 12 matches and 24 consecutive sets.[46] Pera also became the first American woman to win multiple clay-court titles in the same season since Serena Williams won five in 2013. With this result, she climbed to a new career-high singles ranking of No. 54.
On 26 August, she reached semifinals of Cleveland where she lost to Liudmila Samsonova, in straight sets. Along the way, she defeated Barbora Krejčíková and Sofia Kenin, both former winners of major titles.
She finished the year ranked No. 44 in the singles rankings, a career-high year-end.
2023: French Open fourth round, top 30 in singles
At the Australian Open, she reached the third round for the second time at this major and in her career.
At the French Open, she reached the fourth round of a major for the first time, defeating Anett Kontaveit, 22nd seed Donna Vekić and Elisabetta Cocciaretto. As a result, she was part of the top 30 of the rankings.
Pera failed to defend her titles in Budapest and Hamburg, falling to Diana Shnaider in both tournaments in the first round and quarterfinals, respectively.
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
^ abThe first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Ladies Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009 to 2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.
^2011: WTA ranking–1031, 2012: WTA ranking–646, 2013: WTA ranking–361.
References
^United States Tennis Association (USTA) (2015-06-24). "Bernarda Pera". YouTube. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
^"Bèrnard". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 2018-03-18. Bèrnārda
^"Pètar". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 2018-03-18. Pȅra