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Laura Arraya

Peruvian tennis player

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Source updated July 27, 2026

Laura Arraya (born 12 January 1964) is a retired Peruvian tennis player. She was also known by her married name Laura Gildemeister.

01Career

At a young age, Argentine-born Arraya emigrated to Peru with her family and acquired Peruvian nationality. She later represented Peru in international matches. Her best result in a Grand Slam was a quarterfinal at Wimbledon in 1991. Her brother Pablo Arraya is a former tennis player, who reached the top 30 in the Association of Tennis Professionals rankings. In 1984, Arraya married Chilean tennis player Heinz Gildemeister, but they later divorced.

At present, she directs a tennis academy in Lima and in Key Biscayne with her brother Pablo.

When she won the OTB Open in July 1989, she became the first mother since Evonne Goolagong to win a Women's Tennis Association tournament.

02WTA Tour finals

Singles: 10 (4-6)

Winner, Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0-0)
WTA Tour Championships (0-0)
Tier I (0-0)
Tier II (0-0)
Tier III (0-1)
Tier IV (1-1)
Tier V (1-0)
Virginia Slims, Avon, Others (2-4)

Titles by surface
Hard (3-2)
Grass (0-0)
Clay (1-3)
Carpet (0-1)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1-0	Oct 1982	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Pilar Vásquez	3-6, 6-4, 6-0
Loss	1-1	Jul 1983	Freiburg, West Germany	Clay	Catherine Tanvier	4-6, 5-7
Loss	1-2	Oct 1983	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Lisa Bonder	1-6, 3-6
Win	2-2	Apr 1984	Miami, U.S.	Clay	Petra Huber	6-3, 6-2
Loss	2-3	Apr 1984	Orlando, U.S.	Clay	Martina Navratilova	0-6, 1-6
Loss	2-4	Mar 1985	São Paulo, Brazil	Clay	Mercedes Paz	7-5, 1-6, 4-6
Win	3-4	Jul 1989	Schenectady, U.S.	Hard	Marianne Werdel	6-4, 6-3
Win	4-4	Oct 1989	San Juan, U.S.	Hard	Gigi Fernández	6-1, 6-2
Loss	4-5	Aug 1990	Albuquerque, U.S.	Hard	Jana Novotná	4-6, 4-6
Loss	4-6	Feb 1992	Osaka, Japan	Carpet (I)	Helena Suková	2-6, 6-4, 1-6

Doubles: 10 (1-9)

Winner, Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0-0)
WTA Tour Championships (0-0)
Tier I (0-0)
Tier II (0-1)
Tier III (0-1)
Tier IV (0-1)
Tier V (0-0)
Virginia Slims (1-6)

Titles by surface
Hard (0-4)
Grass (0-0)
Clay (1-5)
Carpet (0-0)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0-1	Mar 1985	Palm Beach Gardens, U.S.	Clay	Gabriela Sabatini	JoAnne Russell Anne Smith	6-1, 1-6, 6-7^(4-7)
Loss	0-2	Oct 1985	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Beth Herr	Belinda Cordwell Julie Richardson	4-6, 4-6
Loss	0-3	Nov 1985	Tampa, U.S.	Hard	Lisa Bonder	Carling Bassett Gabriela Sabatini	0-6, 0-6
Loss	0-4	Apr 1986	Isle of Palms, U.S.	Clay	Marcela Skuherská	Sandra Cecchini Sabrina Goleš	6-4, 0-6, 3-6
Loss	0-5	Dec 1986	São Paulo, Brazil	Clay	Petra Huber	Niege Dias Pat Medrado	6-4, 4-6, 6-7^(6-8)
Win	1-5	Mar 1987	Isle of Palms, U.S.	Clay	Tine Scheuer-Larsen	Mercedes Paz Candy Reynolds	6-4, 6-4
Loss	1-6	May 1987	Geneva, Switzerland	Clay	Catherine Tanvier	Betsy Nagelsen Elizabeth Smylie	6-4, 4-6, 3-6
Loss	1-7	Aug 1989	Mahwah, U.S.	Hard	Louise Allen	Steffi Graf Pam Shriver	2-6, 4-6
Loss	1-8	Apr 1990	Tampa, U.S.	Clay	Sandra Cecchini	Mercedes Paz Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	2-6, 0-6
Loss	1-9	Sep 1991	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Carrie Cunningham	Mary Joe Fernández Pam Shriver	3-6, 3-6

03Grand Slam singles performance timeline

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

Tournament	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	Career SR
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	NH	A	A	A	A	2R	2R	2R	0 / 3
French Open	A	1R	1R	4R	2R	4R	1R	A	2R	4R	2R	1R	3R	0 / 11
Wimbledon	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	3R	A	3R	3R	QF	3R	1R	0 / 8
US Open	1R	2R	2R	1R	1R	2R	2R	A	2R	3R	2R	2R	1R	0 / 12
SR	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 3	0 / 2	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 0	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 34
Year End Ranking	116	69	51	34	63	33	45	NR	19	21	24	45	71

04Other finals

Singles (3-1)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	21 March 1982	Brasília, Brazil	Clay	Andrea Tiezzi	6-3, 7-6
Win	2.	4 April 1982	Porto Alegre, Brazil	Clay	Ivanna Madruga	6-3, 6-4
Loss	3.	4 April 1982	Curitiba, Brazil	Clay	Patricia Medrado	3-6, 6-4, 6-7
Win	4.	26 November 1989	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Gabriela Mosca	6-3, 2-6, 6-0

Doubles (2-2)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	28 March 1982	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Clay	Ivanna Madruga	Patricia Medrado Carmen Perea	6-0, 6-2
Loss	2.	4 April 1982	Porto Alegre, Brazil	Clay	Ivanna Madruga	Patricia Medrado Carmen Perea	6-4, 4-6, 2-6
Win	3.	14 October 1990	Lima, Peru	Clay	Karim Strohmeier	Iluminada Concepción Rita Pichardo	6-4, 7-6
Loss	4.	26 September 1994	Lima, Peru	Clay	María Eugenia Rojas	Luciana Tella Vanessa Menga	4-6, 3-6

05Personal life

Laura is the ex-wife of German-Chilean former tennis player Heinz Gildemeister

Watch videos about Laura ArrayaExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Laura Arraya”, 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.

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