Joannette Kruger

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Joannette Kruger
Country (sports)Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa
Residence Benoni, South Africa
Born (1973-09-03) 3 September 1973 (age 51)
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 Open 3R (1998)
French Open 3R (1994)
Wimbledon 2R (1997)
US Open 4R (1997)
Doubles
Career record65–111
Career titles1 WTA
Highest rankingNo. 91 (29 April 2002)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open 2R (1995)
French Open 2R (1995)
Wimbledon 1R (1995)
US Open 1R (1994-96, 2001, 2003)

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

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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 lopsided 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 Indian Wells Open, 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 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Legend
Tier I
Tier II
Tier III (1–2)
Tier IV & V (1–0)
ResultW/LDateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1–1 Mar 1995 Puerto Rico Open Hard Flag of Japan.svg Kyōko Nagatsuka 7–6(7–5), 6–3
Win2–0 Jul 1997 Prague Open Clay Flag of Austria.svg Marion Maruska 6–1, 6–1
Loss2–1 Feb 1998 Cellular South Cup, U.S.Hard Flag of the United States.svg Venus Williams 3–6, 2–6
Loss2–2 Sep 2001 Bali Classic, IndonesiaHard Flag of Indonesia.svg Angelique Widjaja 6–7(2–7), 6–7(4–7)

Doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

ResultW/LDateTournamentSurfacePartneringOpponentsScore
Loss0–1 May 1998 Bol Ladies Open, CroatiaClay Flag of Croatia.svg Mirjana Lučić-Baroni Flag of Argentina.svg Laura Montalvo
Flag of Argentina.svg Paola Suárez
w/o
Win1–1 Jul 2001 Polish Open Clay Flag of Italy.svg Francesca Schiavone Flag of Ukraine.svg Yulia Beygelzimer
Flag of Russia.svg Anastasia Rodionova
6–4, 6–0
Loss1–2Aug 2001 Swiss Indoors Clay Flag of Spain.svg Marta Marrero Flag of Spain.svg María José Martínez Sánchez
Flag of Spain.svg Anabel Medina Garrigues
6–7(5–7), 2–6

ITF Circuit finals

$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Singles: 5 (4–1)

ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss1.6 November 1989 Haifa, IsraelHard Flag of Israel.svg Yael Segal 0–6, 4–6
Win1.14 May 1990 Bournemouth, United KingdomClay Flag of Italy.svg Anna Benzon 7–6, 6–1
Win2.11 May 1992Bournemouth, United KingdomHard Flag of the Netherlands.svg Amy van Buuren 6–2, 6–2
Win3.14 June 1992 Modena, ItalyClay Flag of France.svg Alexandra Fusai 6–4, 6–3
Win4.5 July 1992 Stuttgart, GermanyClay Flag of Bulgaria.svg Lubomira Bacheva 6–1, 6–0

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss1.4 August 1992 Stuttgart, GermanyClay Flag of Bulgaria.svg Elena Pampoulova Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Eva Martincová
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Pavlína Rajzlová
4–6, 0–6

Best Grand Slam results details

Preceded by WTA Player Service
1998
Succeeded by