1973 Virginia Slims WTA Tour

The 1973 Virginia Slims WTA Tour was the third annual Virginia Slims Circuit, a tour of tennis tournaments for female tennis players, sponsored by Virginia Slims cigarettes. It was also the year that the WTA Tour was officially formed by Billie Jean King following a meeting held in the Gloucester Hotel in London during the week before Wimbledon.

Schedule

This is a calendar of all events sponsored by Virginia Slims in the year 1973, with player progression documented from the quarterfinals stage. The table also includes the Grand Slam tournaments, the 1973 Virginia Slims Championships and the 1973 Federation Cup.

Key

Grand Slam tournaments

Year-end championships

Virginia Slims events

Federation Cup

December (1972)

Week of	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
Dec 26	Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Grass – 64S/32D Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 6–4, 7–5	Evonne Goolagong	Kerry Melville Kazuko Sawamatsu	Karen Krantzcke Dianne Fromholtz Virginia Wade Kerry Harris
		Margaret Court Virginia Wade 6–4, 6–4	Kerry Harris Kerry Melville

January

Week of	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists		Quarterfinalists
Jan 15	British Motor Cars Invitational San Francisco, United States Virginia Slims $25,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 6–3, 6–3	Kerry Melville	Valerie Ziegenfuss Rosie Casals		Mareen Louie Nancy Gunter Françoise Dürr Wendy Overton
		Margaret Court Lesley Hunt 6–1, 7–5	Wendy Overton Valerie Ziegenfuss
Jan 21	British Motor Cars of Los Angeles Los Angeles, United States Virginia Slims $25,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 7–5, 6–7, 7–5	Nancy Gunter	Third place	Fourth place	Karen Krantzcke Kerry Melville Françoise Dürr Valerie Ziegenfuss
				Betty Stöve 6–4, 1–6, 6–3	Rosie Casals
		Rosie Casals Julie Heldman Walkover	Margaret Court Lesley Hunt
Jan 29	Virginia Slims of Washington Washington, D.C., United States Virginia Slims $25,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 6–1, 6–2	Kerry Melville	Third place	Fourth place	Julie Heldman Betty Stöve Wendy Overton Valerie Ziegenfuss
				Rosie Casals 6–1, 6–3	Janet Newberry
		Rosie Casals Julie Heldman 6–3, 6–3	Kerry Harris Kerry Melville

February

Week of	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists		Quarterfinalists
Feb 5	Barnett Bank Classic Miami, United States Virginia Slims $30,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 4–6, 6–1, 7–5	Kerry Melville	Third place	Fourth place	Laura Rossouw Julie Heldman Valerie Ziegenfuss Wendy Paish
				Rosie Casals 6–7, 6–2, 6–1	Karen Krantzcke
		Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve 4–6, 6–2, 6–3	Rosie Casals Billie Jean King
Feb 19	Virginia Slims of Indianapolis Indianapolis, United States Virginia Slims $25,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Billie Jean King 5–7, 6–2, 6–4	Rosie Casals	Third place	Fourth place	Kerry Harris Corinne Molesworth Pam Teeguarden Kerry Melville
				Margaret Court 6–3, 6–3	Lesley Hunt
		Rosie Casals Billie Jean King 7–6, 6–4	Margaret Court Lesley Hunt
Feb 25	Virginia Slims of Detroit Detroit, United States Virginia Slims $25,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 7–6, 6–3	Kerry Melville	Third place	Fourth place	Lesley Hunt Julie Heldman Laura DuPont Valerie Ziegenfuss
				Billie Jean King 8–4	Rosie Casals
		Rosie Casals Billie Jean King 6–3, 3–6, 6–1	Karen Krantzcke Betty Stöve

March

Week of	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists		Quarterfinalists
Mar 5	Virginia Slims of Chicago Chicago, United States Virginia Slims $30,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 6–2, 4–6, 6–4	Billie Jean King	Kerry Melville Rosie Casals		Kristien Kemmer Pam Teeguarden Janet Newberry Julie Heldman
		Rosie Casals Billie Jean King 6–4, 6–2	Karen Krantzcke Betty Stöve
Mar 12	Virginia Slims of Richmond Richmond, United States Virginia Slims $25,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 6–2, 6–1	Janet Newberry	Third place	Fourth place	Pam Teeguarden Valerie Ziegenfuss Mareen Louie Nancy Gunter
				Betty Stöve 8–3	Julie Heldman
		Margaret Court Leslie Hunt 6–2, 7–6	Karen Krantzcke Betty Stöve
Mar 26	Virginia Slims of Tucson Tucson, United States Virginia Slims $25,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Kerry Melville 6–3, 6–3	Nancy Gunter	Third place	Fourth place	Laura Rossouw Kerry Harris Janet Newberry Wendy Overton
				Rosie Casals 8–5	Valerie Ziegenfuss
		Janet Newberry Pam Teeguarden 3–6, 7–6, 7–5	Karen Krantzcke Betty Stöve

April

Week of	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists		Quarterfinalists
Apr 2	Max-Pax Coffee Classic Philadelphia, United States Virginia Slims $50,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 6–1, 6–0	Kerry Harris	Third place	Fourth place	Valerie Ziegenfuss Janet Newberry Nancy Gunter Kerry Melville
				Rosie Casals 9–7	Leslie Hunt
		Margaret Court Leslie Hunt 6–1, 3–6, 6–2	Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve
Apr 9	Virginia Slims of Boston Boston, United States Virginia Slims $25,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 6–2, 6–4	Billie Jean King	Rosie Casals Julie Heldman		Mona Schallau Betty Stöve Valerie Ziegenfuss Kerry Melville
		Rosie Casals Billie Jean King 6–4, 6–2	Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve
Apr 16	Virginia Slims of Jacksonville Jacksonville, United States Virginia Slims $25,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 5–7, 6–3, 6–1	Rosie Casals	Third place	Fourth place	Valerie Ziegenfuss Janet Newberry Karen Krantzcke Billie Jean King
				Kerry Melville 8–4	Wendy Overton
		Rosie Casals Billie Jean King 7–6, 5–7, 6–3	Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve
Apr 30	Family Circle Cup Hilton Head Island, United States Virginia Slims $90,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Rosie Casals 3–6, 6–1, 7–5	Nancy Gunter	Kerry Melville Billie Jean King		Margaret Court Betty Stöve Laurie Fleming Wendy Overton
		Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve 3–6, 6–4, 6–3	Rosie Casals Billie Jean King
Apr 30	Federation Cup Bad Homburg, Germany Federation Cup Clay – 30 teams knockout	Australia 3–0	South Africa	Romania Germany		Netherlands Great Britain United States Indonesia

May

Week of	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
May 21	French Open Paris, France Grand Slam Clay (Red) – 64S/45Q/32D/32X Singles Draw – Doubles Draw – Mixed Draw	Margaret Court 6–7, 7–6, 6–4	Chris Evert	Françoise Dürr Evonne Goolagong	Helga Masthoff Odile De Roubin Martina Navratilova Katja Ebbinghaus
		Margaret Court Virginia Wade 6–2, 6–3	Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve
		Françoise Dürr Jean-Claude Barclay 6–1, 6–4	Betty Stöve Patrice Dominguez

June

Week of	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
Jun 25	Wimbledon Championships London, Great Britain Grand Slam Grass – 96S/50D/80X Singles Draw – Doubles Draw – Mixed Draw	Billie Jean King 6–0, 7–5	Chris Evert	Margaret Court Evonne Goolagong	Olga Morozova Rosie Casals Virginia Wade Kerry Melville
		Rosie Casals Billie Jean King 6–1, 4–6, 7–5	Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve
		Billie Jean King Owen Davidson 6–3, 6–2	Janet Newberry Raúl Ramírez

July

Week of	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists		Quarterfinalists
Jul 30	Virginia Slims of Denver Denver, United States Virginia Slims $30,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Billie Jean King 6–4, 6–2	Betty Stöve	Third place	Fourth place	Karen Krantzcke Pam Teeguarden Barbara Downs Rosie Casals
				Julie Heldman 6–3, 6–4	Janet Newberry
		Rosie Casals & Billie Jean King vs Françoise Dürr & Betty Stöve 3–2 suspended

August

Week of	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists		Quarterfinalists
Aug 6	Commerce Union Classic Nashville, United States Virginia Slims $30,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 6–3, 4–6, 6–2	Billie Jean King	Rosie Casals Françoise Dürr		Kathy Kuykendall Mona Schallau Janet Newberry Betty Stöve
		Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve 6–4, 6–7, 6–1	Karen Krantzcke Janet Newberry
Aug 13	Jersey Shore Classic Jersey Shore, United States Virginia Slims $30,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 4–6, 6–2, 6–3	Lesley Hunt	Rosie Casals Karen Krantzcke		Kerry Harris Janet Newberry Tory Fretz Joy Schwikert
		Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve 6–4, 6–7, 6–1	Julie Anthony Mona Schallau
Aug 20	Virginia Slims Grass Court Championships Newport, United States Virginia Slims $30,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Margaret Court 6–3, 6–2	Julie Heldman	Third place	Fourth place	Lesley Hunt Betty Stöve Rosie Casals Françoise Dürr
				Kerry Melville 7–6, 6–3	Kristien Kemmer
		Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve 6–4, 6–3	Janet Newberry Pam Teeguarden
Aug 27 Sep 3	US Open New York, United States Grand Slam Grass – 64S/32D/32X Singles Draw – Doubles Draw – Mixed Draw	Margaret Court 7–6, 5–7, 6–2	Evonne Goolagong	Helga Masthoff Chris Evert		Julie Heldman Kerry Melville Rosie Casals Virginia Wade
		Margaret Court Virginia Wade 3–6, 6–3, 7–5	Rosie Casals Billie Jean King
		Billie Jean King Owen Davidson 6–3, 3–6, 7–6	Margaret Court Marty Riessen

September

Week of	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists		Quarterfinalists
Sep 10	Virginia Slims of St. Louis St. Louis, United States Virginia Slims $30,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Rosie Casals 6–4, 6–7, 6–0	Karen Krantzcke	Pam Teeguarden Kerry Melville		Kristien Kemmer Betty Stöve Mary Ann Beattie Kerry Harris
		Karen Krantzcke Mona Schallau 6–4, 7–6	Betty Stöve Pam Teeguarden
Sep 17	Virginia Slims of Houston Houston, United States Virginia Slims $30,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Françoise Dürr 6–4, 1–6, 6–4	Rosie Casals	Third place	Fourth place	Robin Tenney Tory Fretz Julie Heldman Kerry Melville
				Nancy Gunter vs Billie Jean King 5–3 abandoned
		Mona Schallau Pam Teeguarden 6–3, 5–7, 6–4	Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve
Sep 24	Virginia Slims of Columbus Columbus, United States Virginia Slims $30,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Chris Evert Walkover	Margaret Court	Julie Heldman Rosie Casals		Kathy Kuykendall Betty Stöve Lesley Hunt Laurie Fleming
		Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve 7–5, 7–5	Mona Schallau Pam Teeguarden

October

Week of	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists		Quarterfinalists
Oct 1	Virginia Slims of Phoenix Phoenix, United States Virginia Slims $40,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Billie Jean King 6–1, 6–3	Nancy Gunter	Third place	Fourth place	Betty Stöve Julie Heldman Françoise Dürr Kristien Kemmer
				Kerry Melville 9–7	Rosie Casals
		Kerry Harris Kerry Melville 6–4, 6–4	Rosie Casals Billie Jean King
Oct 15	Virginia Slims Championships Boca Raton, United States Year-end championships $100,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Chris Evert 6–3, 6–3	Nancy Gunter	Françoise Dürr Kerry Melville		Janet Newberry Virginia Wade Mona Schallau Julie Heldman
		Rosie Casals Margaret Court 6–2, 6–4	Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve
Oct 23	Virginia Slims of Hawaii Honolulu, United States Virginia Slims $30,000 Singles Draw – Doubles Draw	Billie Jean King 6–1, 6–1	Helen Gourlay	Mareen Louie Kerry Melville		Patricia Bostrom Karen Krantzcke Wendy Appleby Kerry Harris
		Kerry Harris Kerry Melville 6–3, 3–6, 6–3	Helen Gourlay Karen Krantzcke

Statistical information

These tables present the number of singles (S), doubles (D), and mixed doubles (X) titles won by each player and each nation during the 1973 Virginia Slims Circuit. They also include data for the Grand Slam tournaments and the year-end championships. The table is sorted by:

1) total number of titles (a doubles title won by two players representing the same nation counts as only one win for the nation);
2) highest amount of highest category tournaments (for example, having a single Grand Slam gives preference over any kind of combination without a Grand Slam title);
3) a singles > doubles > mixed doubles hierarchy;
4) alphabetical order (by family names for players).

Key

Grand Slam tournaments

Year-end championships

Virginia Slims event

Titles won by player

Total	Player	S	D	X	S	D	S	D	S	D	X
23	Court, MargaretMargaret Court (AUS)	● ● ●	● ● ●			●	● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●	● ● ●	16	7	0
13	King, Billie JeanBillie Jean King (USA)	●	●	● ●			● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ●	5	6	2
10	Casals, RosieRosie Casals (USA)		●			●	● ●	● ● ● ● ● ● ●	2	8	0
8	Durr, FrançoiseFrançoise Durr (FRA)			●			●	● ● ● ● ● ●	1	6	1
6	Stöve, BettyBetty Stöve (NED)							● ● ● ● ● ●	0	6	0
3	Wade, VirginiaVirginia Wade (GBR)		● ● ●						0	3	0
3	Melville, KerryKerry Melville (AUS)						●	● ●	1	2	0
3	Hunt, LesleyLesley Hunt (AUS)							● ● ●	0	3	0
2	Evert, ChrisChris Evert (USA)				●		●		2	0	0
2	Harris, KerryKerry Harris (AUS)							● ●	0	2	0
2	Heldman, JulieJulie Heldman (USA)							● ●	0	2	0
2	Schallau, MonaMona Schallau (USA)							● ●	0	2	0
2	Teeguarden, PamPam Teeguarden (USA)							● ●	0	2	0
1	Krantzcke, KarenKaren Krantzcke (AUS)							●	0	1	0
1	Newberry, JanetJanet Newberry (USA)							●	0	1	0

Titles won by nation

Total	Nation	S	D	X	S	D	S	D	S	D	X
27	Australia (AUS)	3	3	0	0	1	14	6	17	10	0
23	United States (USA)	1	1	2	1	1	7	10	9	12	2
8	France (FRA)	0	0	1	0	0	1	6	1	6	1
6	Netherlands (NED)	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	6	0
3	Great Britain (GBR)	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0

External links

• Women's Tennis Association (WTA) official website
• International Tennis Federation (ITF) official website