Tennis player, born in Bilzen, Belgium. At age 15, she became the youngest national A champion. A professional from 1998, by the end of 2003 she had won 19 titles, including the Australian and French Opens (2000), and reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon (2003) and the finals of the US Open and French Open (2003). At the beginning of 2004 she was second in the world rankings. She was runner-up in the Australian Open early in the year, and won the Paris Open soon after. At the start of 2005 her ranking had fallen to 20 but she won her first grand slam title, the US Open, later that year. At the start of 2006 she was again ranked number 2.