| •
Semifinalist at 2000 Sydney
with wins over Sabine
Appelmans, Jennifer Capriati
and Alexandra Stevenson. |
| •
En route to a fourth round
showing at the 2000 Australian
Open, scored her first
"double bagel" on
the pro tour in the first
round, winning 6-0, 6-0 over
Patricia Wartusch; also won
the first five games in her
second match; was a
semifinalist in both women's
and mixed doubles. |
| •
Semifinalist at 2000 Paris
Indoors, where she led
Nathalie Tauziat 4-2 in the
final set before falling;
following the tournament,
reentered the world's Top 10
rankings at a career high No.
9; reached third semifinal of
2000 at Scottsdale. |
| •
Stretched world No. 2 Martina
Hingis to three sets in the
quarterfinals of 2000 Hamburg,
and won the doubles title. |
| •
Tore a ligament in left ankle
in second-round match at the
2000 German Open in May. |
| •
Upset 10th-ranked Sandrine
Testud in first round at 2000
Wimbledon, and reached the
doubles semifinals. |
| •
Ranked 19th, reached fourth
semifinal of 2000 at Stanford
with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No.
11 Sandrine Testud before
falling to No. 3 and eventual
champion Venus Williams 6-4,
7-5. |
| •
Eliminated second seed,
world-ranked No. 8 Nathalie
Tauziat 6-2, 6-1 at 2000
Moscow to reach third career
Tier I final, falling to world
No. 1 Martina Hingis; ranking
moved back into the world's
Top 10 at No. 10; the win over
Tauziat was her fourth over a
Top 10 player in 2000; also
reached the doubles final but
lost in a third-set tie-break. |
| •
Ousted world No. 2 Lindsay
Davenport and No. 8 Nathalie
Tauziat (her first win over
her in four meetings) en route
to fifth semifinal of 2000 in
San Diego and recorded her
second and third wins over Top
10 players in 2000, and
reached the doubles final with
Davenport where they lost to
top seeds Raymond/Stubbs in a
third-set tie-break. |
| •
Has qualified for the
season-ending Chase
Championships in both singles
and doubles 1998-2000, winning
the doubles title in 1999 and
2000 with Martina Hingis; in
2000, reached the singles
semifinal after upsetting
fifth-ranked Conchita Martinez
to end the season with a
then-career high ranking of
No. 8. |
| •
In just four tournaments in
2000 with partner Martina
Hingis, won three and reached
the final of a fourth to
qualify for the season-ending
Chase Championships, then won
that as well for the second
straight year. |
| •
In 1999, reached the fourth
round in singles at all three
Grand Slams she played, two
Grand Slam doubles finals and
one Grand Slam mixed doubles
final. |
| •
Won first Grand Slam doubles
title at the 1999 Australian
Open with first-time partner
Martina Hingis by upsetting
the first and second seeds;
also reached the fourth round
in singles. |
| •
Reached first semifinal in
eight months at 1999 Oklahoma
City. |
| •
Reached second career final
(both in Tier I events) at
1999 Hilton Head including
wins over sixth seed Patty
Schnyder and 12th seed Barbara
Schett; playing against
18-year-old Martina Hingis in
the final, they were the
youngest players ever to meet
in the final of this
23-year-old tournament with a
combined age of 36 years, five
months. |
| •
The week following her
runner-up finish at 1999
Hilton Head, defeated world
No. 2 Lindsay Davenport in
Amelia Island for first win
over a Top 10 player in 11
months, then defeated No. 10
Patty Schnyder in her next
match to reach the semifinals. |
| •
Reached the fourth round in
singles at 1999 Wimbledon and
was runner-up in the mixed
doubles, which she entered at
the last minute with Jonas
Bjorkman. |
| •
Suffered a stress fracture in
right foot while practicing
for the Canadian Open in early
August 1999 and was off the
tour for nearly three months,
returning in Linz the last
week of October; in second
week back, defeated No. 14
Sandrine Testud to reach the
quarterfinals in Leipzig
before falling to eventual
champion Nathalie Tauziat 7-6,
7-5. |
| •
Ended 1999 as the world's No.
1-ranked doubles player. |
| •
Defeated six players ranked
among the world's Top 10 in
1998 and reached the Top 10
herself. |
| •
Ranked No. 25, defeated four
Top 10 players in four days to
reach first career final at
1998 Miami, a top-level event;
began her run by defeating
up-and-comer Mirjana Lucic,
then ousted No. 4 Monica Seles,
No. 9 Conchita Martinez, No. 2
Lindsay Davenport and No. 8
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario to
become the eighth player to
consecutively defeat four Top
10 players on the Sanex WTA
TOUR since 1975, and the first
since 1987; fell in three sets
to No. 11 Venus Williams in
the final, and broke into the
world's Top 20 rankings at No.
16. |
| •
Became the ninth-youngest
player in the Open Era to
defeat a reigning world No. 1
before her 17th birthday,
upsetting Martina Hingis in
the quarterfinals at the 1998
German Open; the defeat marked
Hingis' first professional
loss to a younger player;
Kournikova also defeated No. 5
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in the
third round; ranking moved up
to a then-career high No. 13. |
| •
Defeated Steffi Graf in the
quarterfinals of 1998
Eastbourne; it was only Graf's
third grass court loss in the
1990's; following tournament,
debuted in the world's Top 10
rankings at No. 10; in a fall
during the match, suffered
torn ligaments in her right
thumb and was forced to
withdraw from her semifinal
match and from Wimbledon the
next week. |
| •
Won first Sanex WTA TOUR pro
title in 1998 at the Princess
Cup in Tokyo, winning the
doubles crown with Monica
Seles. |
| •
From the start of the 1997
season through October 18,
1998, did not lose to anyone
ranked outside the world's Top
15; 22 of her 27 losses in
that span were to players
ranked in the Top 10. |
| •
In just her second year on the
tour, defeated three Top 10
players in 1997 (No. 5 Iva
Majoli, No. 6 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario,
and No. 10 Anke Huber). |
| •
In 1997, became the second
woman in the Open Era to reach
the Wimbledon semifinals in
her career debut in the
tournament (Chris Evert in
1972 is the other); upset
fifth-ranked Iva Majoli in the
quarterfinals and 10th-ranked
Anke Huber in the third round;
came back from match point
down in the second round to
defeat Barbara Rittner; prior
to the tournament, she had
never reached a semifinal on
the Sanex WTA TOUR and had
reached just one quarterfinal. |
| •
At age 14, became the youngest
player to compete and win in
Fed Cup competition in the
first tie of 1996, helping
Russia defeat Sweden 3-0. |
| •
Recipient of 1999 Sanex WTA
TOUR Doubles Team of the Year
Award with Martina Hingis and
1996 Sanex WTA TOUR Most
Impressive Newcomer Award. |
| •
In 2000, one of five female
tennis players named to the
Forbes magazine Power 100 in
Fame and Fortune list at No.
58; no other female athletes
made the list. |
| •
In junior competition, ended
1995 as the ITF Junior World
Champion ranked No. 1; won the
1995 Orange Bowl 18s, the 1995
European Championships 18s and
the 1995 Italian Open; was
1995 Wimbledon semifinalist
and 1995 Roland Garros
quarterfinalist. |
| •
Selected to the 1998 People
Magazine "50 Most
Beautiful People" list,
one of only two athletes to
make the list. |
| •
First coach in Russia was
Larisa Preobrazhenskaya; moved
to Nick Bollettieri Tennis
Academy in Bradenton, Florida,
in February of 1992 with her
mother and stayed until moving
to Miami in 1997. |
| •
All-court style of game. |
| •
Began playing tennis at age 5
with friends in a weekly
children's sports program. |
