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 20 ...

defeated

Kim Clijsters Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (; born 8 June 1983) 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 20 weeks, and as the world No. 1 in women's double ...

in the final, 6–0, 6–4 to win the women's singles tennis title at the

2003 French Open The 2003 French Open was the second Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam event of 2003 and the 102nd edition of the French Open (tennis), French Open. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 26 through June 8, 2003. Both Al ...

. It was her first

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

singles title, becoming the first Belgian to win a singles major; Clijsters was attempting to achieve the same accolade. The final made Belgium the third country in the

Open Era The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...

(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 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 (WT ...

was the defending champion, but was defeated by Henin-Hardenne in the semifinals, ending her winning streak of 33 major matches and her title streak of four. This tournament marked the final professional appearance of former world No. 1 and nine-time major champion

Monica Seles Monica Seles (born December 2, 1973) is a Serbian–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 ...

; she was defeated by

Nadia Petrova Nadezhda Viktorovna "Nadia" Petrova ( ; 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 ranking of No. 3 in the world in both disciplines (doing s ...

in the first round. It was Seles' only first-round loss at a major in her career, and the only time she lost before the quarterfinals at the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

(reaching that stage in her first ten French Opens). It was also the first French Open appearance for future world No. 1 and five-time major champion

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 sin ...

, 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 results
at 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. there are 211 nat ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:2003 French Open - Women's Singles Women's Singles French Open by year – Women's singles French Open - Women's Singles French Open - Singles French Open - Singles