2007 WTA Tour

Season summary

Singles

Serena Williams started the season by unexpectedly winning her eighth singles Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. Many critics and commentators had already written her off, questioning her desire and fitness, especially after an early loss in her only warm-up tournament the week before. Williams won the title in emphatic fashion, thrashing Maria Sharapova in the final in a performance that BBC Sport called "arguably the most powerful display ever seen in women's tennis." In her earlier matches she was pushed by Nadia Petrova in round three and then by Shahar Pe'er in the quarterfinals. Defending champion Amélie Mauresmo suffered an early loss to Lucie Šafářová, allowing Nicole Vaidišová to reach her second Grand Slam semifinal. Despite losing in the final, Sharapova managed to return to the No. 1 ranking for the second time.

After withdrawing from the Australian Open due to marital problems, Justine Henin returned for Paris in February. She later won titles in Dubai and Doha that month. Kim Clijsters bade a tearful farewell to her home crowd in Belgium, playing Antwerp for the final time due to her planned retirement in October. She lost the final to Amélie Mauresmo, who won the unique diamond racket for winning the event three times. Martina Hingis won the title in Tokyo for her fifth win at that tournament, more than any other player. Venus Williams returned from missing the Australian Open with a wrist injury by winning a smaller tournament in Memphis.

In March, Daniela Hantuchová overcame a five-year hiatus between tour titles to win Indian Wells, the same event where she won her first title at in 2002. Sharapova lost to Vera Zvonareva in the fourth round and thus surrendered her No. 1 position back to Henin. Elsewhere Serena Williams backed up her Australian Open triumph with a win in Miami, saving match points against Henin in the final.

Serbians Jelena Janković and Ana Ivanovic dominated the clay season leading up to the French Open, winning the three biggest warm-up tournaments. Janković took the titles at Charleston and Rome, while Ivanovic won in Berlin. Svetlana Kuznetsova was the runner-up in the latter two events. Also during the clay court season Kim Clijsters announced her retirement, months earlier than anticipated, following an early loss in Warsaw. The finish to the clay season saw Henin pick up her fourth French Open title, and sixth Slam overall. She defeated a nervous Ana Ivanovic, in her maiden Grand Slam final, in only an hour and five minutes.

Wimbledon saw an unexpected final between Venus Williams and Marion Bartoli, the two lowest seeds to ever play in the final. Bartoli beat Janković in the fourth round and Henin in the semifinals, a win that was seen as "one of the biggest upsets ever". Williams was on the brink of losing in two of her early round matches, before beating Sharapova, Kuznetsova and Ivanovic back-to-back. In the final, Williams triumphed for her fourth Wimbledon title and sixth Slam overall. Other upsets included Vaidišová's win over the defending champion Mauresmo, who continued to struggle for form throughout the season aside from a run to the final in Eastbourne.

On the summer hardcourts Anna Chakvetadze produced some strong results, winning back-to-back titles in Cincinnati and Stanford, and then reaching the semifinals in San Diego, being stopped by eventual champion Sharapova. Ivanovic won the event in Los Angeles. Henin won her only warm-up tournament in Toronto, beating Janković in the final.

Henin then won her seventh Grand Slam trophy at the U.S. Open and second of the year. She beat both Serena and Venus Williams in the quarterfinal and semifinal respectively, becoming one of the few women to beat them back-to-back, and then Kuznetsova in the final. Venus Williams made it to the semifinals with wins over both Ivanovic and Janković. Chakvetadze backed up her successful results in the warm-ups by reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal, advancing from a quarter that saw defending champion Sharapova knocked out by Agnieszka Radwańska in the third round.

Lindsay Davenport made a return from her pregnancy in Bali, where she ended up winning the title. She followed that up by winning in Quebec. Henin won titles in Stuttgart and Zürich during the fall season, beating Tatiana Golovin in both finals. Elena Dementieva recorded her first ever win over Serena Williams to win her home event in Moscow. In November, Martina Hingis announced that she had tested positive for cocaine in a drugs test, and was hereby retiring from professional tennis.

The climax of the season was, as ever, the WTA Tour Championships. The eight qualifiers were Henin, Janković, Kuznetsova, Ivanovic, Serena Williams, Chakvetadze, Venus Williams and Hantuchová. Venus Williams later withdrew and Maria Sharapova replaced her. Also during round robin play Serena Williams withdrew, and Marion Bartoli was brought in as the alternate. The final saw Henin beat Sharapova to finish her career best year on a high note. She ended the season with a 63–4 win–loss record—the most impressive record in a single season since Steffi Graf in 1989, and won her last 25 matches of the year. She also became the first woman to earn over $5 million in a season.

Schedule

The table below shows the 2007 WTA Tour schedule.

;Key

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

Statistics

Titles information

List of players and titles won, last name alphabetically:

• BEL Justine Henin – Dubai, Doha, Warsaw, French Open, Eastbourne, Toronto, U.S. Open, Stuttgart, Zürich and WTA Tour Championships (10)
• RUS Anna Chakvetadze – Hobart, 's-Hertogenbosch, Cincinnati and Stanford (4)
• SRB Jelena Janković – Auckland, Charleston, Rome and Birmingham (4)
• SRB Ana Ivanovic – Berlin, Los Angeles and Luxembourg (3)
• USA Venus Williams – Memphis, Wimbledon and Seoul (3)
• USA Lindsay Davenport – Bali and Quebec City (2)
• RUS Elena Dementieva – Istanbul and Moscow (2)
• ARG Gisela Dulko – Budapest and Forest Hills (2)
• FRA Tatiana Golovin – Amelia Island and Portorož (2)
• SVK Daniela Hantuchová – Indian Wells and Linz (2)
• FRA Virginie Razzano – Guangzhou and Tokyo Japan Open (2)
• HUN Ágnes Szávay – Palermo and Beijing (2)
• USA Serena Williams – Australian Open and Key Biscayne (2)
• GER Gréta Arn – Estoril (1)
• AUT Sybille Bammer – Pattaya City (1)
• BEL Kim Clijsters – Sydney (1)
• SUI Martina Hingis – Tokyo (1)
• RUS Maria Kirilenko – Kolkata (1)
• RUS Svetlana Kuznetsova – New Haven (1)
• FRA Émilie Loit – Acapulco (1)
• FRA Amélie Mauresmo – Antwerp (1)
• ESP Anabel Medina Garrigues – Strasbourg (1)
• JPN Akiko Morigami – Prague (1)
• FRA Pauline Parmentier – Tashkent (1)
• ITA Flavia Pennetta – Bangkok (1)
• RUS Nadia Petrova – Paris (1)
• POL Agnieszka Radwańska – Stockholm (1)
• RUS Dinara Safina – Gold Coast (1)
• ITA Francesca Schiavone – Bad Gastein (1)
• VEN Milagros Sequera – Fes (1)
• RUS Maria Sharapova – San Diego (1)
• USA Meghann Shaughnessy – Barcelona (1)
• RUS Yaroslava Shvedova – Bangalore (1)
• ITA Roberta Vinci – Bogotá (1)

The following players won their first title:

• AUT Sybille Bammer – Pattaya City
• RUS Yaroslava Shvedova – Bangalore
• ITA Roberta Vinci – Bogotá
• FRA Tatiana Golovin – Amelia Island
• ARG Gisela Dulko – Budapest
• GER Gréta Arn – Estoril
• JPN Akiko Morigami – Prague
• VEN Milagros Sequera – Fes
• HUN Ágnes Szávay – Palermo
• ITA Francesca Schiavone – Bad Gastein
• POL Agnieszka Radwańska – Stockholm
• FRA Virginie Razzano – Guangzhou
• FRA Pauline Parmentier – Tashkent

Titles won by nation:

• Russia – 12 (Gold Coast, Hobart, Paris, Bangalore, Istanbul, 's-Hertogenbosch, Cincinnati, Stanford, San Diego, New Haven, Kolkata and Moscow)
• Belgium – 11 (Sydney, Dubai, Doha, Warsaw, French Open, Eastbourne, Toronto, U.S. Open, Stuttgart, Zürich and WTA Tour Championships)
• United States – 8 (Australian Open, Memphis, Key Biscayne, Barcelona, Wimbledon, Bali, Seoul and Quebec City)
• France – 7 (Antwerp, Acapulco, Amelia Island, Portorož, Guangzhou, Tokyo Japan Open and Tashkent)
• – 7 (Auckland, Charleston, Berlin, Rome, Birmingham, Los Angeles and Luxembourg)
• Italy – 3 (Bogotá, Bad Gastein and Bangkok)
• Argentina – 2 (Budapest and Forest Hills)
• – 2 (Palermo and Beijing)
• – 2 (Indian Wells and Linz)
• – 1 (Pattaya City)
• Germany – 1 (Estoril)
• Japan – 1 (Prague)
• Poland – 1 (Stockholm)
• Spain – 1 (Strasbourg)
• Switzerland – 1 (Tokyo)
• – 1 (Fes)

Titles won by nation

Rankings

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Number 1 ranking

Points distribution

References

References

1. (2008-05-14). "World No. 1 Henin announces retirement". Yahoo! Sports.
2. (2008-05-14). "Henin's greatest strength came at a price". ESPN Sports.
3. (2007-05-06). "Kim Clijsters retires from pro tennis". CBC Sports.
4. (2007-11-01). "Martina Hingis admits positive cocaine test". The Telegraph.
5. (2007-05-22). "Resurgent Serena targets Paris". BBC Sport.
6. (2007-06-10). "Henin eases past nervy Ivanovic". The Telegraph.
7. "Notes & Netcords: November 12, 2007". Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.