After an injury-plagued 1996 season, she won her second career title in 1997 in Prague, Czech Republic by defeating Marion Maruska in the final.

Her win over Serena was the most lopsided defeat of Williams' career, losing just two games (only Annie Miller of the US finished with such a scoreline in Quebec City in 1995).

At the Qatar Telecom German Open in 2000, she achieved the biggest win of her career by taking down world number three Nathalie Tauziat with the loss of just two games and then went on to make her first Tier I semifinal.

The following year she reached her fourth WTA Tour final at the Wismilak International, beating Grand Slam champion Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in semifinals before losing to Angelique Widjaja.

She also reached two doubles finals in this year, winning Sopot with Francesca Schiavone and finishing runner-up at Basel with Marta Marrero.