Peer reaches final in her prep for the Australian Open
Israeli tennis star Shahar Peer reached the final of the Hobart International…the last tournament before the Australian Open which gets underway this week in Melbourne.
Shahar Peer in the 2008 Australian Open
The 22-yr-old, who was born in Jerusalem, was beaten in the Hobart event by Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 6-4.
Seeded 29 in the Australian Open, Peer’s best performance to date in the Grand Slam competition was in 2007 when she was eliminated by tournament winner Serena Williams in the semi-finals.
With career prize money already topping $2.5 million, Peer will take to the courts for her first round match against Czeck Lucie Hradecka in yet another bid to win the Australian championship.
The only female Israeli competitor, her male compatriots are Noam Okun, 31, Harel Levy, 31, Dudi Swla, 24 and Andy Ram, 29. Okun and Levy did not make it through the qualifying rounds.
Sela is the only other Israeli competing in the singles tournments.
