Joannette Kruger

Joannette Kruger

Country (sports)	South Africa
Residence	Benoni, South Africa
Born	(1973-09-03) 3 September 1973 Johannesburg, South Africa
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)
Turned pro	1989
Retired	2003
Plays	Right-handed (two handed-backhand)
Prize money	$1,083,908
Singles
Career record	257–226
Career titles	2 WTA 4 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 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 record	65–111
Career titles	1 WTA 0 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 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 ranking is No. 21 in the world, a ranking she achieved on 4 May 1998.

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)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	5 March 1995	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Hard	Kyoko Nagatsuka	7–6(7–5), 6–3
Winner	2.	20 July 1997	Prague, Czech Republic	Clay	Marion Maruska	6–1, 6–1
Runner-up	3.	23 February 1998	Oklahoma City, United States	Hard	Venus Williams	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	4.	30 September 2001	Bali, Indonesia	Hard	Angelique Widjaja	6–7, 6–7

Doubles: 3 (1-2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	2 May 1998	Bol, Croatia	Clay	Mirjana Lučić-Baroni	Laura Montalvo Paola Suárez	w/o
Winner	2.	29 July 2001	Sopot, Poland	Clay	Francesca Schiavone	Yulia Beygelzimer Anastasia Rodionova	6–4, 6–0
Runner-up	3.	5 August 2001	Basel, Switzerland	Clay	Marta Marrero	María José Martínez Sánchez Anabel Medina Garrigues	6–7(5–7), 2–6

ITF Circuit finals

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

External links

• Joannette Kruger at the Women's Tennis Association
• Joannette Kruger at the International Tennis Federation
• Joannette Kruger at the Fed Cup