Anna Kournikova

In 1997, at age 16, Kournikova toppled No. 5 Iva Majoli and No. 10 Anke Huber at Wimbledon and reached the semifinals before losing 6-3, 6-2 to Hingis. She was the second woman in the open era, after Chris Evert, to reach the Wimbledon semifinals in her debut. Kournikova, who admitted to soreness in her left hip, said she saw her run as a learning experience. "It's unbelievable, I got to the semi-finals," she said. "I was dreaming about this. I'm definitely going to take a lot with me from this tournament, and from this experience."

Early the next year, she rose to No. 16 by reaching her first final, in Key Biscayne, Florida. She knocked off four straight top-10 players (Seles, Conchita Martinez, Lindsay Davenport and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario) before losing the title match to Venus Williams in a full three sets. She also defeated Graf at Eastbourne. Kournikova missed Wimbledon that year, however, because of a thumb injury. In her other noteworthy Grand Slam singles performance, she reached the 2001 Australian Open quarterfinals, where Davenport proved too much, 6-4, 6-2.