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* Won her first Grand
Slam title at the 1999 Australian Open, winning the doubles title with
first-time partner Martina Hingis by upsetting the first and second
seeds
* also reached the fourth round in singles
* Reached her first
semifinal in eight months at 1999 Oklahoma City
* Reached her second
career final (both in Tier I events) at 1999 Hilton Head including
wins over sixth seed Patty Schnyder and 12th seed Barbara Schett; as the
seventh seed, became the third lowest seed in the history of the
tournament to reach the final, in addition to four unseeded players;
playing against 18-year-old Martina Hingis in the final, they were the
youngest players ever to meet in the final of this 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 her first win over a Top 10 player in 11
months, then defeated No. 10 Patty Schnyder in her next match to reach the
semifinals
* Defeated 11th seed Patty Schnyder for a third time in 1999
at the French Open to reach the fourth round, before falling to eventual
winner Steffi Graf 6-3, 7-6; also was a doubles finalist
* Reached the
fourth round in singles at 1999 Wimbledon and the mixed doubles final,
which she entered at the last minute with Jonas Bjorkman
* Ended a
successful 1998 by qualifying for the season-ending Chase Championships in
both singles and doubles, as one of the year's top 16 singles players and
top eight doubles teams with Larisa Neiland
* 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 her first career final at 1998 Lipton, 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 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 (starting 1968) 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
forced to withdraw from her semifinal match and from Wimbledon the next
week
* Returned to action from injury in August 1998 at the Canadian
Open, reaching the third round
* In 1998, was the first Russian woman
to be seeded at the US Open since 1976
* Upset No. 11 Iva Majoli to
reach the quarterfinals of the 1998 Italian Open
* In third round of
1998 Australian Open, stretched world No. 1 Martina Hingis to three sets
before falling 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
* Won first WTA TOUR professional title in
1998 at the Princess Cup in Tokyo, winning the doubles crown with Monica
Seles
* Extended world No. 1 Martina Hingis to three sets at 1998
Filderstadt, and reached her second consecutive doubles final
* Served
the ninth-fastest serve on the Tour in 1998 at the Paris Indoors, 111.2
miles per hour (179 Km/h)
* 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 WTA TOUR and had reached just one quarterfinal; world ranking moved up
to a then-career high No. 25
* Collected first win over a Top 10
player with win over No. 6 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario at 1997 Berlin
*
Playing in just her second WTA TOUR main draw event and first Grand Slam
tournament, reached the fourth round at the 1996 US Open with a stadium
court victory over 14th seed Barbara Paulus
* As a wildcard ranked
84th, defeated 13th-ranked Amanda Coetzer in first round of 1996
Zurich
* defeated Coetzer again at 1997 Lipton, avenging a loss to
Coetzer two months earlier in the Australian Open
* 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
* As a qualifier, won
her first professional title at a 1996 ITF Women's Circuit satellite event
in Midland, Michigan, USA
* after winning the tournament, flew to
Oklahoma City in time to win her first-round qualifying match the same day
* Finalist for the 1998 WTA TOUR Most Improved Player award
* Named
the 1996 COREL WTA TOUR Most Impressive Newcomer
* In junior
competition, ended 1995 as the ITF Junior World Champion ranked No. 1
*
won the 1995 Orange Bowl 18s
* 1995 European Championships 18s
winner
* 1995 Italian Open juniors winner
* 1995 Wimbledon juniors
semifinalist
* 1995 French Open juniors quarterfinalist
* Selected
to the 1998 People Magazine "50 Most Beautiful People" list, one of only
two athletes to make the list
* Coached by Pavel Slozil since January
1998
* 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 |
