Justine Henin-Hardenne
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 tenni ...
defeated
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters reached the world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles, having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003. She won six major titles, ...
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
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
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
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 ...
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
Monica Seles (; hu, Széles Mónika, ; sr, Моника Селеш, Monika Seleš; born December 2, 1973) is a retired professional tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. A former world No. 1, she won nine Grand Slam ...
, who was defeated by
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna "Nadia" Petrova (russian: Надежда Викторовна Петрова ; born 8 June 1982) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A former top-five player in both singles and doubles, she reached a career-high ...
in the first round. This was Seles' only first-round loss at a major in her career. It was also the first
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
appearance for future world No. 1 and five-time major champion
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 ...
, who was defeated by
Magüi Serna
María Luisa ("Magüi") Serna Barrera (; born 1 March 1979) is a former tennis player from Spain.
She started competing on the ITF Circuit as from 1993, and joined the WTA Tour in 1996. On 12 January 2004, she reached her career-high singles ...
in the first round.
Seeds
Qualifying
Draw
Finals
Top half
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Bottom half
Section 5
Section 6
Section 7
Section 8
External links
2003 French Open – Women's draws and resultsat the
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there a ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:2003 French Open - Women's Singles
Women's Singles
French Open by year – Women's singles
French Open - Women's Singles
2003 in women's tennis
2003 in French women's sport