Sunitha Rao (Born on October 27, 1985 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is a former American professional tennis player of Indian background. representing India in the women's doubles event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Sunitha has also played for India on the Fed Cup and played for United States on all other occasions.
Sunitha Rao won 8 career titles on the ITF Women's Circuit and she reached 7 finals in singles. She has played on many WTA Tour events. In 2007, Sunitha reached her highest WTA Singles ranking place 181 and in Doubles 120.
Rao played her first WTA match at the 2002 Brasil Open - Women's Singles event. She was out in the second round. In Hansol Korea Open 2004 she was not entered in second round, she was also not entered in second round of Internationaux de Strasbourg 2005 tournament.
Sunitha Rao played at the Sunfeast Open where she beat Neha Uberoi in the first round before beaten by Elena Likhovtseva in second round. Sunitha took part at the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic 2006, where she beaten by lost to Angelique Widjaja in the First Round. She also suffered a first round deficit at the 2007 Sunfeast Open.
Sunitha Rao defeated Sandy Gumulya in the First Round of the Sunfeast Open to advance to the second round where she lost to Anne Keothavong. She then lost in the first round of the Bell Challenge to Alina Jidkova. Sunitha received an entry into the PTT Pattaya Open via a Lucky Loser spot. She beat Junri Namigata before losing to Ekaterina Bychkova.
Sunitha Rao received the best result of her WTA career at the 2008 DFS Classic in Birmingham where she entered into third round. She beat Petra Kvitova in the first round and Naomi Cavaday in the second but beaten in third round by Alona Bondarenko.
