Joannette Kruger

Joannette Kruger (born September 3, 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 May 4, 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 Habsudova 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. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, she upset Amanda Coetzer for the first top five win of her career. On May 4, 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 Wismalik International, beating Grand Slam champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in semifinals before losing to Angelique Widjaja. She also reached her first 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.

Titles

ingles

Runner-ups (4)

ingles (2)

*1998: Oklahoma City (lost to Venus Williams)
*2001: Bali (lost to Angelique Widjaja)

Doubles (2)

*1998: Bol (w/ Lučić)
*2001: Basel (w/ Marrero)

External links

*wta|id=110167|name=Joannette Kruger