and Charleston, and the final of Rome. Davenport won the title in Amelia Island. As the favourite to win the French Open title, Henin-Hardenne reached the final, saving match points against Kuznetsova in the fourth round, before beating Sharapova in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, she beat Petrova. On the top half of the draw, Mary Pierce moved through to her first Grand Slam final since 2000 by defeating Davenport in the quarterfinals and then Elena Likhovtseva in the semifinals. Henin-Hardenne eventually won her fourth Grand Slam title, beating Pierce with the loss of only two games. Wimbledon opened up with an early upset, as Henin-Hardenne became the first French Open champion to crash out in the first round, losing to Eleni Daniilidou, who brought an end to the Belgian's 24-match win streak. Australian Open champion Serena Williams also continued her struggles since that title, losing in the third round to Jill Craybas. In the semifinals, Venus Williams beat defending champion Sharapova, while Davenport moved past Mauresmo in a tight match. The final turned out to be the longest women's final in Wimbledon history, with Williams saving a match point before going on to win her third Wimbledon title, after 2000 and 2001. The summer hardcourt season saw a strong run from Kim Clijsters, who won titles in Stanford, Los Angeles and Toronto. Her only loss in the lead-up to the U.S. Open came against Peng Shuai in San Diego. In the absence of Clijsters, Mary Pierce won that event, beating Ai Sugiyama in the final. Lindsay Davenport took the title in New Haven, over Mauresmo in the final. Maria Sharapova became the first Russian, male or female, to be ranked World No. 1 by the WTA Tour; she claimed the ranking on 22 August, though Lindsay Davenport would reclaim the ranking the following week. Sharapova would herself recapture the top ranking following the US Open, despite losing in the semi-finals to Kim Clijsters. She would hold it until the end of the season, when again Davenport took over at the top. After a struggling season up until now, Svetlana Kuznetsova went into her U.S. Open title defense in poor form, and subsequently lost on the very first day, becoming the first defending women's champion to lose in the first round. 2003 champion Henin-Hardenne lost to Mary Pierce in the fourth round, while Venus Williams beat her sister, Serena, in