At the French Open, both Clijsters and Henin reached the final to guarantee that the winner would become the first Belgian Grand Slam singles champion. Henin had won their only meeting in a final in 2003 thus far at the German Open, which was also their only other encounter on clay. While both players had match points in Germany, Henin won in Paris in a lopsided affair where she only lost four games. After losing in the semifinals at Wimbledon to Venus Williams, Clijsters rebounded to win two Tier II titles at the Stanford Classic and the Los Angeles Open. With the second of those titles, she attained the world No. 1 ranking, in part because the top-ranked Serena Williams had not played on tour since Wimbledon due to a knee injury. She was the first woman to become No. 1 without winning a Grand Slam singles title. Clijsters regained the top ranking in doubles the following week to become only the fifth player in WTA history to be No. 1 in singles and doubles simultaneously. Despite playing the US Open as the top seed, Clijsters again lost to Henin in the final in straight sets. Clijsters had been regarded as the favourite entering the match because of her performance in the earlier rounds and Henin's lengthy semifinal match the previous day. The title helped Henin rise to No. 2 in the world.