Iva Majoli kept up her knack of history-making at major clay-court events as she beat Patty Schnyder to the Family Circle Cup.

The Croatian beat Swiss Schnyder 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 for her eighth career title.

It came despite her starting the week ranked a lowly 58th in the world, making her the lowest-ranked player to win a singles title in Tier I tournament history (since 1980).

Prior to Jennifer Capriati's 2001 Australian Open triumph, the ninth-seeded Majoli was the lowest seed to win a women's grand slam singles title when she defeated Martina Hingis at the 1997 French Open.

That victory at Roland Garros denied Hingis a sweep of the year's Grand Slam titles.

Despite falling in the final, Schnyder recorded a semi-final victory over Capriati, the top seed and world number one.

The defending champion here, Capriati's loss paves the way for Venus Williams to move back to the top of the WTA rankings on Monday for the first time since March 18.

The 23-year-old Schnyder also edged red-hot American Serena Williams, the third seed, in Friday's quarter-final at Daniel Island.

Williams had won 12 straight matches overall and each of her five against Schnyder. The final was the first in the 30-year history of this tournament to be contested between unseeded players.