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2006 WTA Tour
The 2006 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was the 36th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 2, 2006, and concluded on November 12, 2006, after 61 events. Justine Henin-Hardenne came out as the winner in a historic three-way battle for the No. 1 ranking at the season-ending WTA Tour Championships, beating out Sharapova and Mauresmo. The Belgian successfully defended her French Open title for her fifth Grand Slam title, and became the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1993 to reach the finals of all four Grand Slams and the WTA Tour Championships. Maria Sharapova won her second Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open, to add to her Wimbledon trophy from 2004. Amélie Mauresmo won her maiden Grand Slam at the Australian Open after a controversial retirement from Henin-Hardenne in the final. However, she later backed it up by winning a rematch with Henin-Hardenne in the Wimbledon final. She was the number one player in the world from March until the final ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Justine Henin-Hardenne
Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 117 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin won 43 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including seven majors (four at the French Open, two at the US Open and one at the Australian Open), as well as an Olympic gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games and two Tour Finals titles. Coming from a country with little success in the sport, Henin helped establish Belgium as a leading force in women's tennis alongside Kim Clijsters, leading it to its first Fed Cup crown in 2001. Henin was known for her all-court style of play and for being one of the few female players to use a single-handed backhand. Tennis experts cite her mental toughness, the completeness and variety of her game, her footspeed and footwork, and her one-handed backhand (which all-time great John McEnroe described as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 18 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in 2008 WTA Tour, 2008. Janković won 15 WTA Tour-level singles titles and two doubles titles, including the 2007 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed doubles, 2007 Wimbledon mixed-doubles title partnering Jamie Murray. Her career-best Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major performance in singles was a runner-up finish at the 2008 US Open – Women's singles, 2008 US Open. 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 he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zheng Jie
Zheng Jie (born 5 July 1983) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. In May 2009, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 15. Zheng is one of China's most successful tennis players. She won four singles titles on the WTA Tour – Hobart in 2005, Estoril, Stockholm in 2006, and Auckland in 2012. She also won 15 career doubles titles, eleven of them with Yan Zi, including Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 2006. She won the bronze medal in doubles with Yan Zi at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Her career-high doubles ranking is world No. 3. Zheng reached the singles semifinals at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, where she defeated world No. 1, Ana Ivanovic, in the process, becoming the first Chinese player to advance to the semifinals at a major tournament. She also reached the semifinals of the 2010 Australian Open. Personal life Zheng graduated from the Sichuan Sports Academy in June 2000. At Wimbledon in 2008, she gained recognition when she becam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yan Zi (tennis)
Yan Zi ( zh, s=晏紫; born 12 November 1984) is a retired Chinese-Hong Kong tennis player. Career summary In 2005, at the age of 20, Yan Zi won her only WTA Tour singles title at the Guangzhou International Open. In singles, she first reached the world top 100 in January 2006, achieving a then career-high of world No. 72 that March before failing to defend her breakthrough run of results the previous year and dropping back outside the top 100 that October. Her ranking had slumped to 262 by February 2007 after a year of disappointing results, but her results then picked up again over the rest of 2007; and she regained the top 100 for the first time in ten months after a spectacular run at the Tier I Canada Masters in August, reaching the semifinals before finally being defeated by world No. 1, Justine Henin, in straight sets. In doubles, her highest ranking is No. 4; she won two Grand Slam titles, partnering with Zheng Jie. While she has been good at doubles, her singles pe ... [...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 Open, 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 2002 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles, Wimbledon Championships and 2002 US Open – Women's singles, 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 2003 Australian Open – Women's singles, Australian Open. She has won seven WTA Tour tournaments, including the Indian Wells Open for a second time in 2007 Pacific Life Open – Women's singles, 2007, with the 2015 PTT Thailand Open – Singles, 2015 Thailand Ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 319 weeks (List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, third-most of all time), and finished as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Year-end No. 1 players, year-end No. 1 five times. Williams won 73 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including 23 Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major women's singles titles — the most in the Open Era, and the All-time tennis records – women's singles#Grand Slam singles totals, second-most of all time. She is the only player to accomplish a Grand Slam (tennis)#Career Golden Slam, career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles. Along with her elder sister Venus Williams, Venus, Serena Williams was coached by her parents Oracene Price and Richard Williams (tenn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internazionali BNL D'Italia
The Italian Open () is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is played on clay courts at the Foro Italico, and is held during the second week of May. The tournament is part of the ATP 1000 events on the ATP Tour and part of the WTA 1000 events on the WTA Tour. The two events were combined in 2011. History The Italian tennis championship was first held in 1930 in Milan at the Tennis Club and was initiated by Count Alberto Bonacossa. The singles events at the tournament were won by Bill Tilden and Lilí Álvarez. The championships were held in Milan until 1934. The next year, 1935, the event moved to the ''Foro Italico'' in Rome. No edition was held between 1936 and 1949. The competition resumed in 1950. In 1961, on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy, the tournament was held in Turin at the Sporting Club. It has had various naming incarnations through the years including: the Italian International Championships, the R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (, ; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 21 weeks. Sharapova won 36 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including five major titles, as well as the 2004 WTA Tour Championships. She is one of ten women to achieve the Career Grand Slam in singles. A teen sensation, Sharapova broke through to the top of the sport by winning the 2004 Wimbledon Championships as a 17-year-old, upsetting two-time defending champion Serena Williams. She then won the 2004 Tour Finals, and became the world No. 1 for the first time in August 2005 at the age of 18, the first Russian woman to top the singles rankings. Continued success over the following years, including titles at the 2006 US Open – Women's singles, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open – Women's singles, 2008 Australian Open, was accompanied by recurring injuries, and Sharapova dip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steffi Graf
Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a record 377 weeks, and finished as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Year-end No. 1 players, year-end No. 1 a record eight times. Graf won 107 singles titles on the WTA Tour, including 22 Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major women's singles titles, the second-most since the start of the Open Era in 1968 and the All-time tennis records – women's singles#Grand Slam singles totals, third-most of all time. She is the only tennis player, male or female, to have won each major singles tournament at least four times — a List of Grand Slam women's singles champions#Career Grand Slam, quadruple career Grand Slam. A teen phenom, Graf became the youngest-ever player to appear in the main draw of a major at the 1983 French Ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. The association governs the WTA Tour, which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women, and was founded to create a better future for women's tennis. The WTA's corporate headquarters is in St. Petersburg, Florida, with its European headquarters in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Beijing. The Women's Tennis Association was founded in June 1973 by Billie Jean King, and traces its origins to the inaugural Virginia Slims tournament, arranged by Gladys Heldman, sponsored by Joe Cullman, CEO of Philip Morris, and held on 23 September 1970 at the Houston Racquet Club in Houston, Texas. Rosie Casals won this first event. When the Women's Tennis Association was founded, Billie Jean King was one of nine players that comprised the WTA, also referred to as the Original 9, that included Julie Heldman, Valerie Ziegenfuss, Judy Dalton, Kristy Pigeon, Peaches Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2007 WTA Tour
The 2007 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was the elite professional tennis circuit organized by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2007 tennis season. The calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments (supervised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF)), the WTA Tier I-IV Events, the Fed Cup (organized by the ITF) and the year-end championships. Justine Henin put together an exceptional season, winning 10 out of the 14 events she entered. This included her sixth and seventh Grand Slam titles at the French Open and U.S. Open, whilst compiling a 63–4 win–loss record. Following her loss to Marion Bartoli in the Wimbledon semifinals she went undefeated for the rest of the year, in the process becoming the first woman to earn over $5 million in a single season. Meanwhile, the Williams sisters returned to the forefront of tennis after years of injury struggles, with both finishing the season in the top ten, the first time since 2004 that Serena Williams finished in the upper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
