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Eva Pfaff

German tennis player

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Source updated November 30, 2025

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Eva Pfaff (born 10 February 1961) is a German former professional tennis player.

01Career

During her career, she won one singles title and nine doubles titles on the WTA Tour. Her peak world rankings in the sport were 17th in singles (in 1983) and 16th in doubles (1988).

At the 1983 Canadian Open, Pfaff held match points against Martina Navratilova in the round of 16, but lost 6-7 in the third set. She was the only player to have match points against Navratilova that year outside of Martina's loss at the French Open to Kathy Horvath.

02Major finals

Grand Slam tournaments

Doubles: 1 runner-up

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Loss	1982	Australian Open	Grass	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	4-6, 2-6

Year-end championships

Doubles: 1 runner-up

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Loss	1983	New York	Carpet (i)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	5-7, 2-6

03WTA Tour career finals

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Result	W-L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0-1	Jan 1982	Pittsburgh, US	Carpet (i)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	4-6, 0-6
Win	1-1	Feb 1982	Nashville, US	Carpet (i)	Leigh-Anne Thompson	6-3, 7-5
Loss	1-2	Jul 1983	Hittfeld, West Germany	Clay	Andrea Temesvári	4-6, 2-6

Doubles: 19 (9 titles, 10 runner-ups)

Result	W-L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Win	1-0	Jul 1980	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Hana Mandlíková Renáta Tomanová	w/o
Win	2-0	Jul 1981	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Elizabeth Little Yvonne Vermaak	6-4, 6-3
Loss	2-1	Nov 1982	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Billie Jean King Anne Smith	3-6, 4-6
Loss	2-2	Nov 1982	Sydney, Australia	Grass	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	2-6, 6-2, 6-7
Loss	2-3	Nov 1982	Australian Open	Grass	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	4-6, 2-6
Win	3-3	Feb 1983	Oakland, US	Carpet (i)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Rosie Casals Wendy Turnbull	6-4, 4-6, 6-4
Loss	3-4	Mar 1983	VS Championships, US	Carpet (i)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	5-7, 2-6
Loss	3-5	May 1983	Berlin, West Germany	Clay	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Jo Durie Anne Hobbs	4-6, 6-7
Win	4-5	Jul 1983	Freiburg, West Germany	Clay	Bettina Bunge	Ivanna Madruga Emilse Raponi-Longo	6-1, 6-2
Loss	4-6	Oct 1984	Los Angeles, LA	Hard	Bettina Bunge	Chris Evert-Lloyd Wendy Turnbull	2-6, 4-6
Loss	4-7	Oct 1984	Filderstadt, West Germany	Hard (i)	Bettina Bunge	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Helena Suková	2-6, 6-4, 3-6
Loss	4-8	Nov 1984	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Bettina Bunge	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	3-6, 2-6
Loss	4-9	May 1985	Lugano, Switzerland	Clay	Bettina Bunge	Bonnie Gadusek Helena Suková	2-6, 4-6
Win	5-9	Apr 1987	Hilton Head Island, US	Clay	Mercedes Paz	Zina Garrison Lori McNeil	7-6^(8-6), 7-5
Loss	5-10	Nov 1987	Worcester, UK	Carpet (i)	Bettina Bunge	Elise Burgin Rosalyn Fairbank	4-6, 4-6
Win	6-10	Feb 1988	Dallas, US	Carpet (i)	Lori McNeil	Gigi Fernández Zina Garrison	2-6, 6-4, 7-5
Win	7-10	Apr 1988	Amelia Island, US	Clay	Zina Garrison	Katrina Adams Penny Barg	4-6, 6-2, 7-6^(7-5)
Win	8-10	Jun 1988	Eastbourne, UK	Grass	Elizabeth Smylie	Belinda Cordwell Dianne Van Rensburg	6-3, 7-6^(8-6)
Win	9-10	Oct 1990	Zürich, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Manon Bollegraf	Catherine Suire Dianne Van Rensburg	7-5, 6-4

04ITF finals

Doubles (6-1)

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

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	17 August 1980	Dachau, West Germany	Clay	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Cathy Drury Florența Mihai	6-2, 6-0
Win	2.	24 August 1980	Bayreuth, West Germany	Clay	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Helena Anliot Iris Riedel-Kühn	2-6, 6-3, 6-1
Win	3.	31 August 1980	Stuttgart, West Germany	Clay	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Elly Appel-Vessies Sabina Simmonds	6-3, 6-4
Win	4.	13 December 1981	Neumünster, West Germany	Clay (i)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Heidi Eisterlehner Gabriela Dinu	7-6, 7-6
Win	5.	9 July 1990	Erlangen, West Germany	Clay	Réka Szikszay	Agnese Blumberga Eugenia Maniokova	6-3, 6-1
Loss	6.	17 September 1990	Chiba, Japan	Hard	Julie Richardson	Michelle Jaggard-Lai Marianne Werdel	4-6, 7-6, 6-7
Win	7.	9 December 1991	Val-d'Oise, France	Hard (i)	Catherine Suire	Pascale Paradis-Mangon Sandrine Testud	4-6, 6-3, 6-4

05Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Key
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	DNQ	A	NH

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	Career SR
Australian Open	A	2R	QF	3R	1R	A	NH	3R	1R	2R	1R	2R	Q1	0 / 9
French Open	A	3R	2R	1R	3R	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	A	A	A	0 / 9
Wimbledon	A	2R	2R	4R	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	2R	2R	A	Q1	0 / 10
US Open	A	1R	1R	1R	A	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	Q1	1R	A	0 / 9
SR	0 / 0	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 0	0 / 37
Year-end ranking	101	70	35	21	31	31	58	44	74	103	153	201	421

Watch videos about Eva PfaffExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Eva Pfaff”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Eva Pfaff am Sportpressefest 1983 in der Ostseehalle (Kiel 74.684).jpg by Magnussen, Friedrich (1914-1987), CC BY-SA 3.0 de

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