Family Circle Cup Champions Review

Rosie Casals (1973)
Rosie has the distinction of being the tournament’s first winner, and her winner’s check of $30,000 was the biggest single check won by any woman professional tennis player in 1973. Her match against Nancy Richey in the final was the first women’s tennis match seen on the NBC network.

Chris Evert (1974-78,1981,1985)
In 1974, Chris made a spectacular debut and started a string of victories that would win her five consecutive singles titles (1974-78), a record that still stands today. She would win another three titles (1981,1984-85) bringing her total to eight. Chris has amassed numerous Cup records including most titles won, most matches won, most consecutive singles matches won, fewest games in a singles final and most consecutive sets won.

Tracy Austin (1979-80)
Tracy followed Evert with back-to-back titles in 1979 and 1980. When she won the coveted
trophy in 1979, she became the youngest Family Circle Cup champion at 16 years, 4 months, a record that still stands today.

Martina Navratilova (1982-83,1988,1990)
Martina would win the first of her four Family Circle Cup singles titles (1982-83, 1988, 1990)
in 1982. That year, she would be the first champion to win both the singles and doubles
title in the same year, and in 1990 Martina would establish a tournament record that still
stands today by winning her fourth double victory, combining singles and doubles.

Steffi Graf (1986-87,1989,1993)
In 1986, fans caught a glimpse into the future of Steffi’s tennis career when she beat reigning
champion Chris Evert to win the singles title. It marked her first pro title in a career that would
include a total of 107 singles titles, including 22 Grand Slams. Steffi would win the Cup again in 1987,1989 and 1993.

Gabriela Sabatini (1991-92)
The young Argentine was next in line to receive the honor of champion when she won the Family Circle Cup title in 1991. Gabriela, who made her professional debut at the Cup in 1985 by reaching the final against Chris Evert, would win the prestigious crown again in 1992.

Conchita Martinez (1994-95)
In 1990, Conchita made her debut at the Family Circle Cup, and four years later won the singles championship in 1994. The following year, she became one of only six players to win the title
again as defending champion. Conchita is also one of eight women who have won the Family Circle Cup more than once.

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (1996)
Arantxa became the second woman in the tournament’s history to win both the singles
and doubles title at the Family Circle Cup in 1996. She holds the tournament record for
most consecutive years seeded (14) and most consecutive years played (16).

Martina Hingis (1997,1999)
The “Swiss Miss“ made history in 1997, the year she won her first Family Circle Cup.
On the first day of the tournament (March 31,1997) Martina became the youngest No. 1
ranked player at 16 years, 6 months, and one day since computer rankings were created
in 1975. Her final against Monica Seles was one of the most exciting in Cup history, and
the first championship to be decided by a third set tiebreaker. The match lasted 31 games,
breaking an existing record of most games (27) in a singles final recorded in 1988. Two
years later, Martina set another tournament record with her win over Anna Kournikova. It
was the youngest Cup final ever, where the combined age of the participants was 36 years, five months.

Amanda Coetzer (1998)
Amanda scored the biggest victory of her career when she captured the 1998 singles
championship. She battled through some tough matches on her way to the final, but
with the victory, set a record as the lowest seeded winner in the tournament’s history.

Mary Pierce (2000)
Mary put together a week of exceptional tennis in 2000 when she captured her first
Family Circle Cup title over another seasoned veteran, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. On the
way to the final, she lost only 11 games, and dropped only one game in the final. That
outstanding performance solidified Mary’s place in Cup history by tying the record for
the shortest singles final (56 minutes), fewest games played in a singles final (13) and fewest games lost in a tournament (12).

Jennifer Capriati (2001)
Jennifer reached her first Family Circle Cup final in 1990 against tennis legend Martina Navratilova. She lost that match 6-2, 6-4, but set numerous tournament records that still stand today including youngest finalist (14 years, 9 days). Eleven years later, she reached her second Family Circle Cup final, but the outcome would be totally different. In 2001, she met another Martina (Hingis) who stretched her to three sets, but Jennifer won with a score of 6-0, 4-6, 6-4. She became the 12th woman, and the fourth American-born player, to win the coveted Family Circle Cup title in the 29-year history of the event.

Iva Majoli (2002)
Tennis history was made at the Family Circle Cup in 2002 when Iva won the prestigious
title. As an unseeded player, no one expected to see her in the final, but on Sunday there
she was facing another unseeded player, Patty Schnyder. It marked the first time in the history of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour that a Tier 1 final was decided between two unseeded players. In the end, Iva won the match 7-6(5), 6-4 and became the first unseeded player to win the Family Circle Cup singles championship.

Venus Williams (2004)
When Venus won the 2004 Family Circle Cup title, not only did she end her 14-month title drought, she claimed her 30th career Sony Ericsson WTA tour title. When she defeated
two-time champion Conchita Martinez in the finals (2-6, 6-2, 6-1), she became one of only
four women to have won the Family Circle Cup in her debut appearance.

Justine Henin (2003, 2005)
Justine’s victory at the 2003 Family Circle Cup over world No. 1 Serena Williams sent shock
waves throughout the sports world, and was the start of a year that would bring her to the
top spot in women’s tennis. In capturing the 2005 Family Circle Cup title (defeating Elena
Dementieva 7-5, 6-4 in the final), she became the fourth lowest-ranked Tier I winner ever
at No. 43. Justine is the only player in Family Circle Cup history with a perfect record (11-0)
at the tournament. Justine followed her win in Charleston in 2005 with a perfect clay court
season including victories at Warsaw, Berlin, and Roland Garros.

Nadia Petrova (2006)
On a hot and sunny Championship Sunday, Nadia Petrova faced off against Patty Schnyder in a three set battle for the coveted singles title, and a $196,900 payday, the largest purse in the history of this storied event. From the onset of the match, Nadia came out swinging hard on both sides, easily taking the first set 6-2. With the crowd decisively behind her, Patty battled back into the match with an array of crafty shots that frustrated Nadia and tied the match as she clinched the second set at 6-4. As each competitor regrouped and made their final charge to victory, the heat and heavy clay proved to be a challenge for both players as they began the third and decisive set. Nadia immediately returned to her power game, which proved too strong for Patty who valiantly rallied and fought off many points. Nadia took the set and match with a 6-1 score, and was gracious in her victory speech to the fans who witnessed her first Tier I victory. The championship marked Nadia’s third Tour singles title of 2006, and her second consecutive clay court tournament win, completing a sweep of the American clay-court series.

Jelena Jankovic (2007)
Arriving in Charleston as the World #9 player and No. 2 seed to compete in her 10th event of the year, Jankovic was placed in the stronger half of the Family Circle Cup field. She would face a gauntlet of seeded players including #16 Mara Santangelo, #12 Katarina Srebotnik, #4 Dinara Safina, as well as unseeded Venus Williams, as she battled to claim this historic championship.

Energized by an outpouring of fan support and Charleston’s southern hospitality, Jankovic only lost a total of seven games en route to the semifinals. Then her work began. Destined to collide with one the Williams sisters from the very start, it was Venus, the only former Family Circle Cup champion in the draw, who stood before her on this beautiful bright and sunny Charleston afternoon. The match was to last nearly three hours and was made tougher with biting winds and a pro-Williams crowd.

Williams was on top of her game right out of the gate in this best of three sets battle. She handily won the set at 6-3 with the assistance of her trusty first serve and strong return game that provided a few key service breaks.

Jankovic turned the tables in the second set by earning four breaks as she neutralized Williams’ serve and supplemented her ground attack with vicious cross court angles that kept Williams out of proper ball striking position, leading to a 6-3 score in her favor.

Tied at one set all, the crowd held its breath as the stage was set for the conclusion of this epic battle. Jankovic charged forward with a spectacular serving display, allowing only one break in the third set of this classic slugfest as both players elevated their ground attacks. As the balance of the match swayed back and forth, the crowd, as if communicating to the competitors that it wanted to see as much top notch tennis as possible, came alive in support of whichever player got behind even slightly.

Leading up to the thrilling tiebreaker, both players seemed to draw power from the hot midday sun and the incredible energy of the near capacity crowd who poured in from all over the grounds to witness the match. Locked at 5-5 in the breaker, after 2 hours and 30 minutes of play and 214 equally distributed points, Jankovic took command of the final minute. She quickly grabbed the first point with a clean winner off the ground, but the final point wouldn’t come as easy. After a barrage of groundstrokes from both sides, Jankovic hit a questionable winner on a sideline tape and raised her arms in victory, but Williams called for the chair umpire to review the call. At the end of what must have been a nervous climb down the ladder and long walk across the court, the umpire circled a mark that had clipped the line, and Jankovic was on to her third final of the year and the first Tier I final of her career.

After posting a match time longer than her first three rounds combined, Jankovic commented, “All the points were quite tough. I had to really earn it because she wouldn’t give me anything easy.”

Considering that Jankovic’s best prior result was her Tier IV Auckland title, it was obvious that this unforgettable match in front of 9,194 screaming fans, the second largest crowd the tournament had ever seen, and millions more across the country and around the world watching at home, gave Jankovic the self-belief she needed to win tournament.

The following day, it was No. 4 seed Dinara Safina and some seriously rough weather that briefly stood in the way of Jankovic’s 2007 Family Circle Cup title, as the match was played in biting winds that made every shot a challenge for both players.

Jankovic cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 victory, and a $196,900 payday, in just over an hour as the 22 year-old became the first Serbian to surpass $2 million in career earnings and becoming the new World #7 player.

When asked in a press conference before she left Charleston about how it feels to know her image will be displayed on a giant stadium banner, Jankovic said, “It’s a good feeling. I’m the new poster girl!”