1997 - Debuted on ITF Circuit at ITF/Koksijde-BEL, falling in QF
1998 - Played four ITF Circuit events, winning ITF/Brussels 1-BEL and ITF/Koksijde-BEL (replacing Henin as champion); reached QF of ITF/Ramat Hasharon-ISR as a qualifier (l. to Henin); first season-ending rank of No. 409
1999 - Began the year winning ITF/Sheffield-GBR and reaching final of ITF/Reims-FRA as a qualifier (l. to Henin); made Tour debut at Antwerp in May as a lucky loser ranked No. 258, where she held mp on No. 1 seed and world-No. 35 Pitkowski in QF before falling; qualified for Wimbledon (ranked No. 195), d. world No. 10 Coetzer in 3r before falling to Graf in 4r; at US Open, held 5-3 final-set lead on eventual champion S. Williams in 3r; at Luxembourg as a qualifier, won first Tour title, d. Top 2 Belgians — Appelmans and Van Roost — en route; extended win-streak to 12 matches with runner-up finish in Bratislava (l. to Mauresmo); won first Tour doubles title at Bratislava (w/Courtois); finished season inside Top 50 at No. 47, a 362 spot improvement in 12 months
2000 - In only second full year on Tour, finished inside Top 20 at No. 18, winning two titles and scoring 13 wins over Top 20 players; won second career singles title at Hobart to start the year; reached 4r of both Indian Wells (l. S. Williams) and Miami (l. Hingis); d. Kournikova and Tauziat during Fed Cup play; at Wimbledon, d. world No. 7 Tauziat in 1r and reached mixed-doubles final w/L. Hewitt; after QF finishes at New Haven and Luxembourg, d. eight seeded players in 10 matches, reaching Filderstadt final as a wildcard (d. No. 2 seed C. Martinez, No. 3 Tauziat and No. 6 Kournikova), winning first Tier II title at Leipzig (d. No. 2 seed Sanchez-Vicario, No. 3 Kournikova, No. 7 Likhovtseva and No. 8 Dokic — saving 1 mp) and reaching QF of season-ending Championships (d. No. 5 seed Sanchez-Vicario, l. to Dementieva in 3s); improved ranking from No. 45 to No. 18 during that three-tournament run; pushed world No. 2 Davenport to 3s in 2r of US Open and again in Fed Cup SF at end of year
2001 - At Indian Wells, d. world No. 1 Hingis in SF in 3s; l. to S. Williams in final after holding point for 64 5-3 lead; having never exceeded 4r of a Grand Slam, reached final at Roland Garros (d. Henin after being within point of 62 5-2 down), l. to Capriati 16 64 12-10 in longest third set in a Roland Garros women’s final; was four times within two points of winning; by reaching final, passed $1-million in career prize money and ranking improved from No. 14 to No. 7; won titles at Stanford (d. Davenport for first time in five career meetings), Leipzig (first time to defend title in career) and Luxembourg; runner-up at ’s-Hertogenbosch and semifinalist at season-ending Championships (was two points from d. Davenport, l. in third-set tie-break), New Haven (forfeited SF match vs. Davenport with right quadriceps strain), Tokyo [Princess Cup] and Bol; reached QF at Wimbledon (also reached doubles final w/Sugiyama) and US Open; helped Belgium to its first Fed Cup title, winning all four singles rubbers throughout season in straight sets; earned first Top 10 season-finish at No. 5, winning three titles in a season for first time, reaching first Grand Slam finals and scoring first Top 5 win
2002 - At Sydney, reached SF, d. Farina Elia from a 76(4) 4-2 deficit, and world No. 7 Henin before falling to No. 2 seed Hingis in 3s; at Australian Open, became first Belgian woman to reach SF, losing only 15 games in first five matches before extending world No. 1 and eventual champion Capriati to 3s; withdrew from 3r doubles w/Sugiyama due to stress reaction of upper right arm; 200th singles career match win came with Australian Open 1r win over Wheeler; withdrew from Antwerp and Scottsdale due to right arm injury; on March 4, reached career-high rank of No. 3 at 18 years, 9 months — eighth youngest player to reach that spot (after Jaeger, Hingis, Seles, Austin, Graf, Maleeva-Fragniere and Sanchez-Vicario); returned from injury as No. 1 seed at Indian Wells, l. to world No. 35 Dechy in 2r (after 1r bye) — only fifth time in Tier I history (since 1980) that No. 1 seed fell in opening match (after 1994 Philadelphia, 1995 Canadian Open, 1996 Zurich and 1999 Moscow); at Miami, seeded No. 4, fell in QF to world No. 6 Seles in 3s; won a singles rubber in Belgium’s 3-1 victory over Australia in 1r of Fed Cup before withdrawing with an aggravated shoulder injury; at Hamburg, won seventh career Tour title, d. world No. 1 V. Williams 16 63 64, becoming first player to defeat Williams as No. 1 player and in an outdoor final since 1999 San Diego; following week, at German Open and as No. 2 seed, l. opening match to world No. 35 Smashnova 57 64 75 after rallying from 5-3 down to take first set and lead 4-1 in second; reached SF at Italian Open, d. world No. 10 Testud before falling to Henin for only second time in six Tour meetings; May 20 was first time two Belgians ranked in Top 5 with Clijsters at No. 4 and Henin at No. 5, joining USA, Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Spain and France to have two players ranked in Top 5 at same time; seeded No. 4 at Roland Garros, ousted in 3r by C. Fernandez; No. 1 seed at ’s-Hertogenbosch, l. in QF to Pisnik; seeded No. 5 at Wimbledon, upset in 2r by world No. 48 Likhovtseva; finalist at Stanford as defending champion, d. No. 2 seed Davenport in SF after trailing 64 42 (l. to V. Williams); reached QF in San Diego, extending No. 1 seed and eventual champion V. Williams to 3s (only player to take a set from Williams during her title sweep at Stanford, San Diego and New Haven); at Los Angeles, l. in opening match to Srebotnik in 3s but won doubles as a wildcard team w/Dokic; seeded No. 4 at Canadian Open, l. in 3r to Schett; reached US Open 4r, l. to No. 10 seed Mauresmo 46 63 75; in 3r, d. Zvonareva after trailing 61 3-1; in doubles w/Shaughnessy, d. No. 1 seeds and defending champions Raymond/Stubbs to reach QF; at Tokyo [Princess Cup], reached third final of the year, d. world No. 4 and defending champion Dokic in SF to avenge 2001 SF loss there; in final, l. to S. Williams in 3s (third time in five career meetings to stretch Serena to 3s); one of only three players in 2002 (Henin and Rubin) to take a set from both Williams sisters; reached SF in Leipzig as two-time defending champion, l. in 3s to Myskina after leading 4-1 final set; at Filderstadt, won eighth career title and fourth in Germany, d. Myskina, Majoli, No. 2 seed Davenport, No. 5 seed Mauresmo (coming from 5-2 and mp down in third set) and No. 8 seed Hantuchova; became first player ever to win Tier II or higher title coming from a set down to d. three seeded players in last three matches; win improved her ranking from No. 9 to No. 5; fell to No. 2 seed Davenport in Zurich QF (reached doubles SF w/Hantuchova); successfully defended Luxembourg title as No. 1 seed (d. Mag. Maleeva in final), winning doubles title w/Husarova, sweeping both titles at the one event for first time, having been in both finals at Tour level on four previous occasions; 14 games lost en route to singles title was a Tour-low for 2002, matched only by her victory at the season-ending Championships (see November note); seeded No. 5, won season-ending Championships for first time, d. Rubin, Henin, V. Williams (who retired trailing 5-0 with calf strain) and S. Williams in final; dropping 14 games en route to title equaled tournament record for fewest games conceded (alongside Navratilova-1983 and S. Williams-2001); second player to d. both Williams sisters in last two rounds of a tournament and only fourth ever to beat both in the same event (Sanchez-Vicario-1998 Sydney; Graf-1999 Sydney and Hingis-2001 Australian Open); first player in Championships history to d. three Top 5 players in the event and was the only player in 2002 to d. both Williamses, replicating the feats of Hingis in 2001 and Davenport in 2000; Clijsters joins S. Williams as the only players to d. multiple reigning No. 1s in 2002 (d. V. Williams in Hamburg final and S. Williams in season-ending Championships final; S. Williams d. Capriati in Miami final and V. Williams in Roland Garros final); ended season winning 15 of last 16 matches and at career-best season-ending ranking of No. 4, having been at No. 9 only five weeks earlier