FACTS & FIGURES
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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 * 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 |