1999 Australian Open
| 1999 Australian Open | |
|---|---|
| Date | 18–31 January |
| Edition | 87th |
| Category | Grand Slam (ITF) |
| Surface | Hardcourt (Rebound Ace) |
| Location | Melbourne, Australia |
| Venue | Melbourne Park |
| Champions | |
| Men's Singles | |
 Yevgeny Kafelnikov
|
|
| Women's Singles | |
 Martina Hingis
|
|
| Men's Doubles | |
 Jonas Björkman /  Patrick Rafter
|
|
| Women's Doubles | |
|
Martina Hingis / Anna Kournikova
|
|
| Mixed Doubles | |
 Mariaan de Swardt / David Adams
|
|
| Boys' Singles | |
 Kristian Pless
|
|
| Girls' Singles | |
 Virginie Razzano
|
|
| Boys' Doubles | |
 Jürgen Melzer / Kristian Pless
|
|
| Girls' Doubles | |
 Eleni Daniilidou / Virginie Razzano
|
|
The 1999 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. It was the 87th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 18 through 31 January 1999. This was the first Grand Slam of the calendar year. Total attendance for the event reached 391,504.
In the singles competition, Petr Korda and Martina Hingis were the defending champions. Korda was unseeded at this tournament and was eliminated in the third round by American 15th seed Todd Martin. This loss resulted in him falling down the rankings from 20th to 76th. Later in July, Korda received a suspension from tennis by the ITF after testing positive for nandrolone at Wimbledon last year. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, on the other hand, ended up becoming the men's champion, defeating surprise finalist Swede Thomas Enqvist in four sets. With this win, Kafelnikov became the first Russian, male or female, to win an Australian Open title. In the women's singles, two-time defending champion Martina Hingis successfully defended her title, defeating another surprise finalist in Frenchwoman Amélie Mauresmo. This win allowed Hingis to join Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles as the only women to have won three consecutive Australian Open titles. Amélie Mauresmo would later become the World No. 1 in 2004, and despite being one of the top players of the early to mid-2000s, this would be her only Grand Slam final until the 2006 Australian Open, which she won.
In doubles, the defending champions were Jonas Björkman and Jacco Eltingh for the men's, Martina Hingis and Mirjana Lučić for the women's, and Venus Williams and Justin Gimelstob for the mixed. Eltingh did not participate at this year's Australian Open, leaving Björkman to team up with Australia's Patrick Rafter. Rafter and Björkman later won the title, defeating the Indian first seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes in five sets. Hingis and Lučić also separated, with Hingis teaming up with Anna Kournikova and Lučić teaming up with Mary Pierce. Lučić and Pierce fell in the first round, but Hingis and Kournikova went on to win, by defeating first seeds Lindsay Davenport and Natasha Zvereva at the final. The mixed doubles competition saw Williams and Gimelstob not competing, and none of the seeds reaching past the second round. In the end, the South African team of Mariaan de Swardt and David Adams won, defeating Williams' sister Serena and her partner Max Mirnyi in the final.
...
Wikipedia