The 2003 AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships was a combined men's and women's
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
tournament played on
outdoor hard courts at the
Ariake Coliseum
is an indoor sporting arena in located in Ariake, Kōtō, Tokyo, Japan. It has a capacity of 10,000 and is one of the few professional tennis venues which has a retractable roof.
Events
The arena is used as the center court for the Japan O ...
in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
in Japan that was part of the
International Series Gold
The ATP 500 tournaments (previously known as the ''ATP World Tour 500'' tournaments, ''ATP International Series Gold'', and ''ATP Championship Series'') are the fourth highest tier of annual men's tennis tournament after the four Grand Slam tourn ...
of the
2003 ATP Tour
The 2003 ATP Tour was the global elite men's professional tennis circuit organised by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for the 2003 tennis season. The ATP Tour is the elite tour for professional tennis organised by the ATP. The ATP T ...
and of
Tier III of the
2003 WTA Tour
The 2003 WTA Tour was the elite professional tennis circuit organized by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2003 tennis season. The 2003 WTA Tour included the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tier I, T ...
. The tournament ran from September 29 through October 5, 2003.
Rainer Schüttler
Rainer Schüttler (; born 25 April 1976) is a German former professional tennis player. Schüttler was the runner-up at the 2003 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. He won an Olympic silver medal in double ...
and
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 ...
won the singles title.
Finals
Men's singles
Rainer Schüttler
Rainer Schüttler (; born 25 April 1976) is a German former professional tennis player. Schüttler was the runner-up at the 2003 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. He won an Olympic silver medal in double ...
defeated
Sébastien Grosjean
Sébastien René Grosjean (; born 29 May 1978) is a French former professional tennis player. Grosjean reached the semifinals at the 2001 Australian and French Opens, and at Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004. He finished eight consecutive seasons rank ...
7–6
(7–5), 6–2
* It was Schüttler's 1st title of the year and the 4th of his career.
Women's singles
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 ...
defeated
Anikó Kapros
Anikó Kapros (born 11 November 1983) is a former professional tennis player from Hungary. She won the junior's singles title at the Australian Open in 2000.
Kapros caused an upset at the 2002 French Open, when she, as a qualifier, beat fifth ...
2–6, 6–2, 7–6
(7–5)
* It was the 1st title of Sharapova's
career
The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways.
Definitions
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...
.
Men's doubles
Justin Gimelstob
Justin Jeremy Gimelstob (born January 26, 1977) is a retired American tennis player. Gimelstob has been a resident of Morristown, New Jersey, and as of 2009 lived in Santa Monica, California.
He was the top-ranked boy in his age group at the a ...
/
Nicolas Kiefer
Nicolas Kiefer (; born 5 July 1977) is a German former professional tennis player. He reached the semifinals of the 2006 Australian Open and won a silver medal in men's doubles with partner Rainer Schüttler at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Kief ...
defeated
Scott Humphries
Scott Humphries (born May 26, 1976 in Greeley, Colorado), is a retired professional tennis player from the United States.
Humphries reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 260, achieved on 9 September 1996. He also reached a career-h ...
/
Mark Merklein 6–7
(6–8), 6–3, 7–6
(7–4)
* It was Gimelstob's 1st title of the year and the 10th of his career. It was Kiefer's 1st title of the year and the 3rd of his career.
Women's doubles
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 ...
/
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Tamarine Tanasugarn ( th, แทมมารีน ธนสุกาญจน์, , ; born 24 May 1977) is a Thai former tennis player. Born in Los Angeles, she turned professional in 1994, and has been in the top 20 in both singles and doubl ...
defeated
Ansley Cargill
Ansley Cargill (born January 5, 1982) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.
Cargill won four singles titles and four doubles titles on tournaments of the ITF Circuit. She reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 90 ...
/
Ashley Harkleroad
Ashley Harkleroad Adams (born May 2, 1985) is a former professional American tennis player. She reached a career-high ranking in singles of 39 in June 2003.
Career
Raised in Chickamauga, Georgia (near Chattanooga, Tennessee), Harkleroad turned p ...
7–6
(7–1), 6–0
* It was Sharapova's 1st title of the year and the 1st of her career. It was Tanasugarn's 2nd title of the year and the 5th of her career.
References
External links
Official website
ATP tournament profile
{{2003 WTA Tour
AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships
The Japan Open (currently sponsored by Rakuten) is a men's tennis tournament held in Ariake Tennis Forest Park with its center court Ariake Coliseum, located in Koto, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally founded in 1915 as the Japan International Ch ...
AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships
The Japan Open (currently sponsored by Rakuten) is a men's tennis tournament held in Ariake Tennis Forest Park with its center court Ariake Coliseum, located in Koto, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally founded in 1915 as the Japan International Ch ...
Japan Open (tennis)
AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships
The Japan Open (currently sponsored by Rakuten) is a men's tennis tournament held in Ariake Tennis Forest Park with its center court Ariake Coliseum, located in Koto, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally founded in 1915 as the Japan International Ch ...
AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships
The Japan Open (currently sponsored by Rakuten) is a men's tennis tournament held in Ariake Tennis Forest Park with its center court Ariake Coliseum, located in Koto, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally founded in 1915 as the Japan International Ch ...
AISJapan Open Tennis Championships