Joannette Kruger

Joannette Kruger (born 3 September 1973) is a former professional tennis player from Johannesburg, South Africa. Her career high ranking is No. 21 in the world, a ranking she achieved on 4 May 1998.

Joannette Kruger
Country (sports) South Africa
ResidenceBenoni, South Africa
Born (1973-09-03) 3 September 1973
Johannesburg, South Africa
Height1.79 m (5 ft 10 12 in)
Turned pro1989
Retired2003
PlaysRight-handed (two handed-backhand)
Prize money$1,083,908
Singles
Career record257–226
Career titles2 WTA 4 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 21 (4 May 1998)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open3R (1998)
French Open3R (1994)
Wimbledon2R (1997)
US Open4R (1997)
Doubles
Career record65–111
Career titles1 WTA 0 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 91 (29 April 2002)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open2R (1995)
French Open2R (1995)
Wimbledon1R (1995)
US Open1R (1994-96, 2001, 2003)

Kruger turned professional in 1989, but it was not until 1992 that she finally broke into the world's top 100. In 1995, she had her breakout season winning her first WTA Tour title in San Juan where she beat Kyoko Nagatsuka in the final. She also recorded her first two top ten wins over Anke Huber and Lindsay Davenport.

After an injury-plagued 1996 season, she won her second career title in 1997 in Prague, Czech Republic by defeating Marion Maruska in the final. Other highlights included the quarterfinals of the Tier I in Rome, defeating Brenda Schultz-McCarthy and Karina Habšudová en route, both top twenty players, and reaching the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time at the US Open, beating Barbara Paulus in the first round.

She continued her success in 1998, reaching her third WTA Tour final at Oklahoma City, beating Serena Williams in the quarterfinals but losing to her sister Venus Williams in the final. Her win over Serena was the most embarrassing defeat of Williams' career, losing just two games (only Annie Miller of the US finished with such a scoreline in Quebec City in 1995). At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, she upset Amanda Coetzer for the first top five win of her career. On 4 May 1998, she reached her career high of No. 21.

At the Qatar Telecom German Open in 2000, she achieved the biggest win of her career by taking down world number three Nathalie Tauziat with the loss of just two games and then went on to make her first Tier I semifinal. The following year she reached her fourth WTA Tour final at the Wismilak International, beating Grand Slam champion Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in semifinals before losing to Angelique Widjaja. She also reached two doubles finals in this year, winning Sopot with Francesca Schiavone and finishing runner-up at Basel with Marta Marrero.

Kruger's last year on the Tour was in 2003, where she used a special ranking. She went 0–5 during this year with her last match being a 6–2, 6–1 loss to Jennifer Capriati at the French Open.

WTA career finals

Singles: 4 (2-2)

Legend: Before 2009Legend: Starting in 2009
Grand Slam tournaments (0)
WTA Championships (0)
Tier I (0) Premier Mandatory (0)
Tier II (0) Premier 5 (0)
Tier III (1-2) Premier (0)
Tier IV & V (1-0) International (0)
Result No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win 1. Mar 1995 San Juan, Puerto Rico Hard Kyoko Nagatsuka 7–6(7–5), 6–3
Win 2. Jul 1997 Prague, Czech Republic Clay Marion Maruska 6–1, 6–1
Loss 3. Feb 1998 Oklahoma City, United States Hard Venus Williams 3–6, 2–6
Loss 4. Sep 2001 Bali, Indonesia Hard Angelique Widjaja 6–7, 6–7

Doubles: 3 (1-2)

Result No. Date Tournament Surface Partnering Opponents Score
Loss 1. May 1998 Bol, Croatia Clay Mirjana Lučić-Baroni Laura Montalvo
Paola Suárez
w/o
Win 2. Jul 2001 Sopot, Poland Clay Francesca Schiavone Yulia Beygelzimer
Anastasia Rodionova
6–4, 6–0
Loss 3. Aug 2001 Basel, Switzerland Clay Marta Marrero María José Martínez Sánchez
Anabel Medina Garrigues
6–7(5–7), 2–6

ITF Circuit finals

$100,000 tournaments
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Singles finals: 5 (4–1)

Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 1. 6 November 1989 Haifa, Israel Hard Yael Segal 0–6, 4–6
Winner 1. 14 May 1990 Bournemouth, United Kingdom Clay Anna Benzon 7–6, 6–1
Winner 2. 11 May 1992 Bournemouth, United Kingdom Hard Amy van Buuren 6–2, 6–2
Winner 3. 14 June 1992 Modena, Italy Clay Alexandra Fusai 6–4, 6–3
Winner 4. 5 July 1992 Vaihingen, Germany Clay Lubomira Bacheva 6–1, 6–0

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

Result No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Runner-up 1. 4 August 1992 Vaihingen, Germany Clay Elena Pampoulova Eva Martincová
Pavlína Rajzlová
4–6, 0–6
Preceded by
Katrina Adams
WTA Player Service
1998
Succeeded by
Nicole Pratt


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