Serena Williams Bio
By Team WTA
July 11 2002
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Biography Serena Jameka Williams (USA) Residence: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA Career highlights: 1995 Played first professional match as a WC in Quebec
City qualifying losing to Annie Miller. She did not play in 1996. First Tour main-draw appearance came as a qualifier
at Moscow, where she lost to no. 22 Kimberly Po. In just her second career main-draw event at
Chicago as a WC, she defeated no.7 Mary Pierce in the second round and
no. 4 Monica Seles in the quarterfinal before losing to Davenport in
the semi-final. Her ranking climbed from no. 304 to no 102 after
beating two top ten players in one tournament. She ended the year ranked at # 99. 1998 Serena began the year 1998 in Sydney, as a qualifier
ranked no. 96, she had a quarterfinal win over no. 3 Lindsay Davenport
saving match points and fighting off 6-1, 5-2 deficit, improving her
ranking to no. 53. She upset no. 9 ranked Spirlea in the first round
to be defeated by her sister in the second round Australian. In Miami she defeated the no.10 Spirlea again
to reach the quarterfinal where she held match points on no.1 Martina
Hingis before falling 6-3, 1-6, 7-6. At the Italian Open Serena defeated no. 12 Tauziat
and no. 8 Martinez before losing to sister Venus in the quarterfinal. She reached the 4th round at Roland Garros held
6-4, 5-2 lead on eventual winner Sanchez- Vicario. She won the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon
and US Open with Max Mirnyi. Serena won first pro title in doubles at Oklahoma
City with sister, Venus, becoming the third pair of sisters to win a
tour doubles title. 1999 Entered Top 10 at No. 9 for first time on April
5. Did not have a losing record against any player ranked in Top 5; won three doubles titles with her sister including Roland Garros and US Open; Helped the U.S. win the Fed Cup championship Ended the season ranked at # 4 2000 Her best result was defending her Los Angeles
title with wins over no.6 Martinez, no.1 Hingis and no.2 Davenport. Serena also won titles at Hanover and Tokyo Princess
Cup Serena did not play again until June at Wimbledon,
where she lost just 13 games in five matches en route to the semi-final
and lost to her sister Venus. In doubles she won Wimbledon and Olympic Gold
titles with her sister, Venus Ended the year ranked at # 6. 2001 She began at Sydney reaching quarterfinal before
falling to Hingis 6-4, 7-5. At Indian Wells she won her ninth career singles
title where she defeated no.2 Davenport in the quarterfinal and Clijsters
in final. In Miami she reached the quarterfinals defeating
Clijsters and lost to Capriati in the next round. For the first-time she reached a quarterfinal
at Roland Garros extending eventual winner Capriati to three sets. At Wimbledon she held 7-6, 5-3 lead on Capriati
in QF and was two points from winning before falling in three sets. She lost her two-year grip on Los Angeles title
when she fell 7-6 in the final set to Seles in quarterfinal after holding
six match points. At US Open she defeated no.6 Henin, no.3 Davenport
and no.1 Hingis in consecutive matches before falling to her older sister,
Venus, in the final. She ended the year ranked at # 6. 2002 She reached career-first clay-court final at
the German Open, where she fell in a third-set tiebreak to eighth-ranked
Henin. She captured her career-first clay-court title
at the Italian Open, defeating no. 2 Capriati in the semi-final and
no. 8 Henin in final. Serena’s ranking improved to a career-high
No. 3. Defeated her older sister Venus 7-5, 6-3 to win
Roland Garros, her second Grand Slam singles title. Defeated older sister Venus 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 Become no.1 on the WTA world rankings |