Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

2004 WTA Tour

Women's tennis circuit From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2004 WTA Tour
Remove ads

The 2004 WTA Tour was the elite professional tennis circuit organized by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2004 season. The 2004 WTA Tour calendar comprised the Grand Slam tournaments (supervised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF)), the WTA Tier I-V Events, the Fed Cup (organized by the ITF), the Summer Olympic Games and the year-end championships.

Quick facts Details, Duration ...

In an open year, Lindsay Davenport finished the season at No. 1 for the third time after 1998 and 2001, despite not reaching a Grand Slam final. Amélie Mauresmo put together a consistent season, reaching No. 1 in September and finishing the year ranked No. 2. The Russian contingent enjoyed an impressive rise into the elite of women's tennis, with Anastasia Myskina, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova all winning their first Grand Slam titles, and Elena Dementieva twice being a runner-up. The Belgian pair of Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne, who had risen to the top of women's tennis during 2003, both struggled with injuries throughout the season. Likewise, the dominance of the Williams sisters diminished, with both finishing the season outside the top 5.

Remove ads

Season summary

Summarize
Perspective

Singles

World No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne started the season on a high note, taking the title in Sydney and then winning her third Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, defeating Kim Clijsters in the final. Fabiola Zuluaga and Patty Schnyder enjoyed runs to their first ever Grand Slam semifinals in singles. Schnyder took advantage of an open draw which saw Venus Williams dumped out in the third round by Lisa Raymond. Zuluaga advanced after Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova were early upset victims in her section of the draw, and then benefitted from a walkover from Amélie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals. Defending champion Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament due to her continuing recovery from knee surgery.

Henin-Hardenne won in Dubai amidst a 16-match win streak, which was snapped by Svetlana Kuznetsova in Doha. Kuznetsova lost to the defending champion Anastasia Myskina in the final. Elsewhere, Lindsay Davenport won her fourth title in Tokyo, tying Martina Hingis for the most wins at the event. Clijsters won the indoor tournaments in Paris and Antwerp, but struggled with injury for the rest of the season. Henin-Hardenne moved straight back to winning ways by taking the title in Indian Wells. Serena Williams would return in March, winning her first tournament back in Miami.

Thumb
Anastasia Myskina won her first and only Grand Slam title at the French Open.

The clay court season began with Davenport claiming the title in Amelia Island. Venus Williams then won both Charleston and Warsaw in succession. Amélie Mauresmo won the two biggest warm-up tournaments on red clay at Berlin and Rome, with Williams also reaching the final in Germany. Mauresmo's feat of winning both events was previously matched by Steffi Graf and Monica Seles, both of whom also lifted the French Open that same year.

However, it proved not to be a good omen for Mauresmo as she lost to Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals. Clijsters withdrew from the tournament with a wrist injury,[1] whilst her compatriot and defending champion Henin-Hardenne bowed out in the second round with injury against Tathiana Garbin. It was the earliest loss for the No. 1 seed there since 1925. That upset allowed Paola Suárez to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal in singles, where she lost to Dementieva. In the bottom half of the draw, Anastasia Myskina came through after wins over Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati. The first all-Russian Grand Slam final ended quickly, with Myskina routing a nervous Dementieva to become the first Grand Slam singles champion from Russia.

Russian dominance continued in the grass court warmups, with Maria Sharapova winning in Birmingham and Svetlana Kuznetsova prevailing in Eastbourne. Mary Pierce also claimed her first tour title since the French Open four years previously, winning in 's-Hertogenbosch. Clijsters and Henin-Hardenne sat out the year's third Grand Slam with the same injuries that put them out of the French Open. The first week of Wimbledon saw Venus Williams sent home in the second round by Karolina Šprem, whilst the two French Open finalists failed to make the successful transition between clay and grass: Dementieva lost to Sandra Kleinová, and Myskina to Amy Frazier. The final was to be contested between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, who both made impressive comebacks in their semifinals from a set and a break down.[2][3] In the final, Sharapova upset the two-time defending champion to win her first Grand Slam title, the third youngest winner ever at Wimbledon.[4]

Thumb
Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon and the year-end championships, plus three other titles throughout the season.

Davenport started the summer hardcourt season on a hot streak, winning events in Stanford, Los Angeles, San Diego and Cincinnati to build an impressive winning run going into the year's final Grand Slam. Nicole Vaidišová became one of the youngest tour titlists in history by winning a smaller event in Vancouver. Mauresmo won the Tier I event in Toronto, beating Elena Likhovtseva in the final. Henin-Hardenne returned from her illness to play the Athens Olympics, where she won the gold medal match over Mauresmo. In the bronze medal match, Alicia Molik beat Myskina.

Davenport was the favourite to take her second U.S. Open title, but she was stopped in the semifinals by Svetlana Kuznetsova. It was a half of upsets with Henin-Hardenne falling to Nadia Petrova, and Myskina and Sharapova also departing early. Henin-Hardenne's loss meant that Mauresmo would reach the No. 1 ranking position for the first time. In the bottom half of the draw, Elena Dementieva beat Mauresmo and Capriati—who was coming off a controversial win against Serena Williams in the quarterfinals with several contentious line calls going against Williams—to reach her second Grand Slam final. In another all-Russian final, Kuznetsova became the third player from the country to win her maiden Grand Slam in succession.

Mauresmo's reign at No. 1 turned out to be short-lived, with Davenport, who won the title in Stuttgart during the fall season, displacing her one-month later. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a successful stretch for Mauresmo, who claimed titles in Linz and Philadelphia. Alicia Molik won her biggest career title in Zurich and a smaller event in Luxembourg, while Myskina defended her title in Moscow. Svetlana Kuznetsova won the title in Bali and reached the final in Beijing, losing to Serena Williams. It was Sharapova who ended up winning the season-ending WTA Tour Championships, beating Williams in the final, after picking up smaller titles in Seoul and Tokyo, and reaching the final in Zurich. Nadia Petrova and Meghann Shaughnessy won the doubles event.

Remove ads

Schedule

Summarize
Perspective

The table below shows the 2004 WTA Tour schedule.

Key

Grand Slam events
Summer Olympic Games
Year-end championships
Tier I events
Tier II events
Tier III events
Tier IV and V events
Team events

January

More information Week, Tournament ...

February

More information Week, Tournament ...

March

More information Week, Tournament ...

April

More information Week, Tournament ...

May

More information Week, Tournament ...

June

More information Week, Tournament ...

July

More information Week, Tournament ...

August

More information Week, Tournament ...

September

More information Week, Tournament ...

October

More information Week, Tournament ...

November

More information Week, Tournament ...
Remove ads

Statistics

Summarize
Perspective

List of players and titles won, last name alphabetically:

The following players won their first title:

Titles won by nation:

  •  Russia – 15 (Memphis, Doha, French Open, Birmingham, Eastbourne, Wimbledon, New Haven, Forest Hills, U.S. Open, Bali, Hasselt, Seoul, Tokyo, Moscow and WTA Tour Championships)
  •  United States – 12 (Hobart, Tokyo Pan Pacific, Miami, Amelia Island, Charleston, Warsaw, Stanford, Los Angeles, San Diego, Cincinnati, Beijing and Filderstadt)
  •  France – 8 (Casablanca, Estoril, Berlin, Rome, 's-Hertogenbosch, Montreal, Linz and Philadelphia)
  •  Belgium – 7 (Sydney, Australian Open, Paris, Antwerp, Dubai, Indian Wells and Athens Olympics)
  •  Australia – 4 (Hyderabad, Stockholm, Zurich and Luxembourg)
  •  Czech Republic – 3 (Acapulco, Vancouver and Tashkent)
  •  Argentina – 1 (Canberra)
  •  China – 1 (Guangzhou)
  •  Colombia – 1 (Bogotá)
  •  Greece – 1 (Auckland)
  •  Israel – 1 (Vienna)
  •  Italy – 1 (Sopot)
  •  Japan – 1 (Gold Coast)
  •  Luxembourg – 1 (Strasbourg)
  •  Yugoslavia – 1 (Budapest)
  •  Slovakia – 1 (Quebec City)
  •  Spain – 1 (Palermo)
Remove ads

Rankings

Summarize
Perspective

Below are the 2004 WTA year-end rankings:

No Player Name Nation Points 2003 Change
1 Lindsay Davenport  USA 4,760 5 +4
2 Amélie Mauresmo FRA 4,546 4 +2
3 Anastasia Myskina RUS 4,012 7 +4
4 Maria Sharapova RUS 3,536 32 +28
5 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS 3,533 36 +31
6 Elena Dementieva RUS 3,448 8 +2
7 Serena Williams  USA 3,128 3 –4
8 Justine Henin-Hardenne BEL 2,884 1 –7
9 Venus Williams  USA 2,400 11 +2
10 Jennifer Capriati  USA 2,359 6 –4
11 Vera Zvonareva RUS 2,299 13 +2
12 Nadia Petrova RUS 2,022 12 =
13 Alicia Molik AUS 1,971 35 +22
14 Patty Schnyder  SUI 1,638 23 +9
15 Elena Bovina RUS 1,598 21 +6
16 Paola Suárez ARG 1,535 14 –2
17 Ai Sugiyama JPN 1,469 10 –7
18 Karolina Šprem CRO 1,452 59 +41
19 Francesca Schiavone ITA 1,403 20 +1
20 Silvia Farina Elia ITA 1,334 24 +4

Number 1 ranking

More information Holder, Date gained ...

"Full 2004 Year-End Rankings" (PDF). Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-18. Retrieved 2017-02-28.

Points distribution

CategoryWFSFQFR16R32R64R128QQ3Q2Q1
Grand Slam (S)6504562921629056322262112.52
Grand Slam (D)6504562921629056222
WTA Championships (S)48534021812167
WTA Championships (D)485340218121
Tier I $2,000,000 (S)325228146814528161116.251
Tier I $2,000,000 (D)3252281468145120
Tier I $1,300,000 (56S)300210135754225110.55.751
Tier I $1,300,000 (28S)3002101357542118.510.55.751
Tier I $1,300,000 (28D)3002101357542118.5
Tier I $1,300,000 (16D)30021013575119
Tier II $650,000 (28S)220154995529113.257.754.51
Tier II $650,000 (16D)2201549955113
Tier II $585,000 (56S)1951378849251416.7541
Tier II $585,000 (28S)195137884925111.756.7541
Tier II $585,000 (16D)1951378849111.75
Tier III $225,000 (30S)14510366371914.52.751
Tier III $225,000 (16D)14510366371
Tier III $170,000 (56S)12085553016913.752.251
Tier III $170,000 (30/32S, 32Q)1208555301617.253.752.251
Tier III $170,000 (30/32S, 16Q)1208555301613.752.251
Tier III $170,000 (16D)12085553017.5
Tier IV $140,000 (32S, 32Q)956743241215.53.521
Tier IV $140,000 (32S, 16Q)956743241213.521
Tier IV $140,000 (16D)9567432416.25
Tier V $110,000 (32S)805636201014.5321
Tier V $110,000 (16S, 16D)8056362015
Remove ads

See also

References

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads