2003 French Open – Women's Singles
Justine Henin-Hardenne defeated Kim Clijsters in the final, 6–0, 6–4 to win the women's singles tennis title at the 2003 French Open. It was her first major singles title, and she became the first Belgian to win a major; Clijsters (also Belgian) was attempting to achieve the same accolade. The final made Belgium the third country in the Open Era (following Australia and the United States) to have two countrywomen contest a major final. Serena Williams was the defending champion, but was defeated by Henin-Hardenne in the semifinals, ending her winning streak of 33 major matches. This marked the final major appearance of former world No. 1 and nine-time major champion Monica Seles, who was defeated by Nadia Petrova in the first round. This was Seles' only first-round loss at a major in her career. It was also the first French Open appearance for future world No. 1 and five-time major champion Maria Sharapova, who was defeated by Magüi Serna in the first round. Seeds Qualify ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Justine Henin
Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin, coming from a country with limited success in tennis, helped establish Belgium as a leading force in women's tennis with Kim Clijsters, and led the country to its first Fed Cup crown in 2001. She was known for her all-court style of play and for being one of the few female players to use a single-handed backhand. Henin won seven Grand Slam singles titles: winning the French Open in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007, the US Open in 2003 and 2007 and the Australian Open in 2004. At Wimbledon, she was the runner-up in 2001 and 2006. She also won a gold medal in the women's singles at the 2004 Olympic Games and won the year-ending WTA Tour Championships in 2006 and 2007. In total, she won 43 WTA singles titles. Tennis experts cite her mental toughness, the completeness and variety of her game ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Elena Dementieva
Elena Viacheslavovna Dementieva (, ; born 15 October 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She won the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, having previously won the silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. She won 16 WTA singles titles, reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open and reached seven other Grand Slam semifinals. Dementieva was also part of the Russian team that won the 2005 Fed Cup. In doubles, she won the 2002 WTA Championships with Janette Husárová and was the runner-up in two US Open doubles finals – in 2002 with Husárová and in 2005 with Flavia Pennetta. Dementieva achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 3, which was accomplished on 6 April 2009. She announced her retirement on 29 October 2010, after her final match at the 2010 WTA Championships. Between 2003 and 2010, she only ended one year, in 2007, outside the top 10. She is considered to be one of the most talented players never to have ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Silvia Farina Elia
Silvia Farina Elia (; born 27 April 1972) is a former professional tennis player from Italy. She won three WTA singles titles, reached the quarterfinals of the 2003 Wimbledon Championships and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in May 2002. Farina Elia won her first ITF title at Caltagirone in 1991 and her first WTA tournament at Strasbourg in 2001. She made her debut Grand Slam appearance at the 1991 French Open and was coached by husband Francesco Elia, whom she married September 1999. Career Farina Elia made steady progression on the ITF circuit during the early 1990s and finished her first year in the top 100 in 1991. She completed her first victory over a top ten player (Gabriela Sabatini, Roland Garros) in 1994 and won her first doubles title the next year. In 1996, she represented Italy at the Atlanta Olympics. 1998 was considered her breakthrough year, reaching the final of four tournaments and in the process securing a place in the year end top 20. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nathalie Dechy
Nathalie Dechy (born 21 February 1979) is a former professional tennis player from France. Dechy is a three-time doubles Grand Slam champion, winning the 2006 US Open women's doubles title with Vera Zvonareva, the 2007 French Open mixed doubles title with Andy Ram, and the 2007 US Open women's doubles title with Dinara Safina. Her biggest singles achievement is reaching the semifinals of the 2005 Australian Open. At the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, she faced world No. 1 and reigning French Open champion Ana Ivanovic. She had a match point during the second set before losing 7–6, 6–7, 8–10. Since 2015, Nathalie Dechy has been the director of the Biarritz Tennis Tournament, a women's tennis tournament organized every year by the Quarterback agency at Biarritz Olympic Tennis. This tournament is part of the ITF (International Tennis Federation) category and has $80,000 in prize money. Grand Slam finals Women's doubles: 2 (2 titles) Mixed doubles: 1 (title) Grand Sl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Conchita Martínez
"Conchita" Martínez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She was the first Spaniard to win the women's singles title at The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon, doing so in 1994 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles, 1994. Martínez also was the runner-up at the 1998 Australian Open – Women's singles, 1998 Australian Open and the 2000 French Open – Women's singles, 2000 French Open. She reached a career-high ranking of world No. 2 in October 1995, and was in the year-end Top 10 for nine years. Martínez won 33 singles and 13 doubles titles during her 18-year career, as well as three Olympic medals. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2020. A five-time winner of the Fed Cup as a player, Martínez was the Spain Fed Cup team, Spanish Fed Cup team captain from 2013 to 2017 and the Spain Davis Cup team, Spanish Davis Cup team captain from 2015 to 2017, leading the Davis Cup team back into the top-tier World ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Anna Smashnova
Anna Smashnova ( he, אנה סמשנובה, russian: Анна Смашнова; born July 16, 1976) is a Soviet-born Israeli former tennis player. She retired from professional tour after Wimbledon 2007. Smashnova reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 15 in 2003. She reached 13 finals, and won 12 of them. In addition, she won a junior Grand Slam title, the 1991 French Open girls' singles championship. Early life Smashnova, born in Minsk, is of Russian-Jewish descent. Her father Sasha is an engineer, and her mother is Zina. She has a brother, Yura, who is a software analyst. Smashnova graduated from American International High School outside Tel Aviv in 1995. She completed her service in the Israel Defense Forces in 1997. Her family immigrated to Israel in September 1990, after Freddy Krivine, one of the founders of the Israel Tennis Centers, invited her to immigrate. Tennis career Smashnova began playing tennis when she was six. She became the No. 1 junior in t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vera Zvonareva
Vera Igorevna Zvonareva ( rus, Вера Игоревна Звонарёва, p=ˈvʲɛrə ˈiɡərʲɪvnə zvənɐˈrʲɵvə, a=Vera zvonareva.ogg; born 7 September 1984) is a Russian professional tennis player. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career-high ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is world No. 2. Zvonareva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles, including the 2009 Indian Wells Open, and reached the finals of the 2008 WTA Tour Championships, 2010 Wimbledon Championships, and 2010 US Open. She also was a bronze medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In doubles, Zvonareva has won five major titles. Three came in women's doubles, first at the 2006 US Open, partnering Nathalie Dechy, and the 2012 Australian Open, with Svetlana Kuznetsova. Following her return to tennis, Zvonareva won her third major title at the 2020 US Open, partnering Laura Siegemund. Her other two major titles came in mixed doubles, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond (born August 10, 1973) is an American retired professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in Doubles (tennis), doubles tennis. Raymond has eleven Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles to her name: six in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. On June 12, 2000, she reached the List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 ranking in doubles for the first time, becoming the 13th player to reach the milestone. Raymond was ranked No. 1 on five separate occasions in her career over a combined total of 137 weeks (the fourth-highest mark of all time) and finished as the year-end No. 1 doubles player in both 2001 and 2006. She currently holds the record of most doubles match wins (860) and most doubles matches played (1,206) in WTA history, and earned more than $10 million in prize money in her career. She is one of the few players to win a 'Career Grand Slam (tennis)#Women's doubles 2, Grand Slam' in doubles, which she accomplished af ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Elena Bovina
Elena Olegovna Bovina ( rus, link=no, Елена Олеговна Бовина, , ɪ̯ɪˈlʲenə ˈbovʲɪnə; born 10 March 1983) is a former professional tennis player from Russia. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 14 in April 2005. Her best performance at a Grand Slam tournament came when she got to the quarterfinals of the 2002 US Open, defeating Clarisa Fernández, Jelena Dokic, Stéphanie Foretz and Francesca Schiavone before losing to Lindsay Davenport. In June 2005, Bovina sustained a right shoulder injury, which forced her to withdraw from all tournaments through the end of the year. She pulled out of all events she had entered in early 2006, and for some time, she was unranked in both singles and doubles. She returned to the WTA Tour at the Kremlin Cup in October 2006. She has won three career singles titles, including the Tier II Pilot Pen Tennis Open. She has been a finalist in three singles tournaments, and has five career doubles titles, in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder (born 14 December 1978) Weltwoche, 14. September 2011 is a Swiss retired player. A former top 10 player in singles, she twice defeated a reigning world No. 1 player in her career: at the 1998 (by retirement) and [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Meghann Shaughnessy
Meghann Shaughnessy (born April 13, 1979 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American former professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in 2001 and won six titles on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour. Her best doubles ranking was world No. 4, and she won 17 WTA Tour doubles titles, including the WTA Championships in 2004. She is best known for her serve, which was one of the most powerful on tour, and has produced as many as 22 aces in a match. Shaughnessy was coached and managed by Rafael Font de Mora for most of her career. She is the niece of Dan Shaughnessy, a ''Boston Globe'' sports columnist. Career Shaughnessy made her debut on the WTA Tour in 1996 in Budapest and broke into the top 100 in 1998. In 2000, she won her first WTA singles title in Shanghai, defeating Iroda Tulyaganova in the final, and breaking into the top 50. In her breakout year of 2001, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of No. 11, won the second singles t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Amanda Coetzer
Amanda Coetzer (born 22 October 1971, in Hoopstad) is a South African former professional tennis player. Coetzer finished in the WTA rankings top 20 for ten consecutive seasons (1992–2001), peaking at world No. 3. She reached three Grand Slam semifinals (Australian Open 1996 and 1997, French Open 1997) and one Grand Slam doubles final ( US Open 1993). Coetzer earned a reputation for regularly beating players who were ranked higher than her. By virtue of scoring so many upset wins in spite of her five-foot-two (1.58m) stature, she gained the nickname: "The Little Assassin". Personal life Coetzer was born in Hoopstad, South Africa, to Nico and Suska Coetzer. She started playing tennis at the age of six. During her career, she resided primarily in Hilton Head, South Carolina and was coached by Gavin Hopper, later by Lori McNeil. She is married to the Hollywood film producer Arnon Milchan. They have two children, Shimon (born 2009) and Olivia (born 2011). Career Coetzer's breakthr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |