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2003 Australian Open – Women's Singles
Serena Williams defeated her sister Venus Williams in the final, 7–6(7–4), 3–6, 6–4 to win the women's singles tennis title at the 2003 Australian Open. It was her fourth consecutive major singles triumph, completing the "Serena Slam", both a non-calendar year Grand Slam and the career Grand Slam. It was also Venus' record fourth consecutive runner-up finish at a major, losing every final to Serena. Serena saved two match points en route to the title, against Kim Clijsters in the semifinals (where at one point in the third set Serena was 1–5 down). This marked the first Australian Open final without Martina Hingis since 1996, and final appearance of four time champion Monica Seles, who lost to Klára Koukalová in the second round. Jennifer Capriati was the two-time defending champion, but lost to Marlene Weingärtner in the first round. Capriati's loss marked the first time the defending Australian Open champion lost in the first round, and the first time at any m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 319 weeks, including a joint-record 186 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. She won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time. Along with her older sister Venus, Serena Williams was coached by her parents Oracene Price and Richard Williams. Turning professional in 1995, she won her first major singles title at the 1999 US Open. From the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open, she was dominant, winning all four major singles titles (each time over Venus in the final) to achieve a non-calendar year Grand Slam and the career Grand Slam, known as the 'Serena Slam'. The next few years saw her claim two more singles majors, but suffer from inju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former tennis player. A former world No. 1, Janković reached the top ranking before her career-best major performance, a runner-up finish at the 2008 US Open. Janković won 15 WTA Tour singles titles and two doubles titles, with career highlights that include winning the 2007 Wimbledon mixed-doubles title partnering Jamie Murray. Family and early life Janković was born in Belgrade, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as the third child of Veselin and Snežana, both economists. She has two brothers, Marko and Stefan. She is a student at the Megatrend University in Belgrade, studying economics. However, she has put her course of study on indefinite hold as she continues to pursue her tennis career. Janković learned her first tennis skills at the Tennis Club 'Red Star'. As a -year-old she was introduced to tennis by her elder brother and fitness coach Marko. She later trai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandra Stevenson
Alexandra Winfield Stevenson (born December 15, 1980) is an American former professional tennis player. Early life and education Stevenson's mother is Samantha Stevenson, a sports journalist. Her father is former National Basketball Association player Julius Erving. Erving was married when he met Samantha Stevenson, and Alexandra Stevenson was conceived as a result of an affair. Alexandra Stevenson met her father for the first time in October 2008 after she initiated a meeting. The meeting was documented by ESPN.com's "Reaching Out". Stevenson keeps up with her father between tournaments. Stevenson graduated from the University of Colorado in December 2007, with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Sociology. She graduated on the Dean's List and is the only final-eight member to have graduated from college while playing professional tennis. Stevenson was inducted into the La Jolla Country Day School Hall of Fame in December 2009 – joining fellow Torrey, Rashaan Salaam, the 1994 Hei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
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: Martina Hingis at the 1998 Grand Slam Cup (by retirement) and |
Magdalena Maleeva
Magdalena Georgieva Maleeva ( bg, Магдалена Георгиева Малеева, ; born 1 April 1975) is a Bulgarian former professional tennis player. She played on the WTA Tour competing in singles and doubles, from April 1989 to October 2005 and has won ten career singles titles. Her best WTA singles ranking was world No. 4. Biography Born in Sofia, Maleeva is the youngest of the three children of Yuliya Berberyan and Georgi Maleev. Yuliya, who came from a prominent Armenian family which found refuge in Bulgaria after the 1896 Armenian massacres in the Ottoman Empire, was one of the best Bulgarian tennis players in the 1960s. After she retired from professional tennis in the 1970s, Berberyan started on a coaching career. She trained all of her three daughters, Magdalena, Katerina and Manuela, each of whom eventually became WTA top six players. In 1988, Maleeva became the youngest ever national tennis champion of Bulgaria, at the age of 13 years and four months. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chanda Rubin
Chanda Rubin (born February 18, 1976) is an American former top-10 professional tennis player. During her career, she reached the semifinals at the 1996 Australian Open, the quarterfinals of the French Open three times, and had wins over world-number-ones Serena Williams and Martina Hingis. In doubles, she won the 1996 Australian Open with Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and was runner-up at the 1999 US Open with Sandrine Testud. Early life and family Rubin was born to Edward D. Rubin, a state judge in Louisiana, and Bernadette Fontenot Rubin. She was the middle child of three siblings. As a child, she was taught the sport of tennis by Nehemiah Atkinson. She married Mireyou Hollier in April 2015 and their daughter was born in October 2016. In early 2016, her younger brother, Edward Rubin Jr., died aged 38 at his home in Lafayette, Louisiana. Tennis career In 1992, Rubin won the girls' singles title at Wimbledon, and reached a peak ranking of world No. 2 in the ITF Junior ranki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Andreyevna Myskina ( rus, Анастасия Андреевна Мыскина ; born 8 July 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. Myskina won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian woman to win a major singles title. Due to this victory, she rose to No. 3 in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, becoming the first Russian woman to reach the top 3 in the history of the rankings. In September 2004, she reached a career-high ranking of No. 2. She has not retired officially, but has been inactive on the WTA Tour since May 2007. Tennis career 1999–2001 Myskina was born in Moscow and turned professional in 1998, the year in which she broke into the WTA top 500. She won her first WTA title in Palermo in only her second appearance in the main draw of a WTA tournament. She made her debut in a Grand Slam tournament at the US Open and the Fed Cup (playing doubles). In 2000, Myskina scored first career top-20 victory over No. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová (; born 23 April 1983) is a Slovak tennis commentator and retired player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA Tour title at the Indian Wells Masters, defeating Martina Hingis in the final and becoming the lowest-ranked player to ever win the tournament. She also reached the quarterfinals of that year's Wimbledon Championships and US Open, ending the year in the top ten. She was part of the Slovak team that won the 2002 Fed Cup and the 2005 Hopman Cup. Hantuchová reached her highest ranking of world No. 5 in January 2003, after playing the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. She has won seven WTA tournaments, including the Indian Wells Masters for a second time in 2007, with the 2015 Thailand Open being her last victory. She reached the semifinals of the 2008 Australian Open, her best result in a Grand Slam tournament. Her biggest career wins include victories over defending champion Serena Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
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] |
