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Week 40: Whatever do you
mean ?
 By
Todd Spiker
TENNISRULZ.COM -- WTA REPORT, WEEK 40
WHATEVER DO YOU MEAN?
by Todd Spiker
What do you mean this was an unpredictable weekend? Hardly.
(Imagine hysterical laughing here.)
Who couldn't have foreseen that Maggie Maleeva would defeat #2 Venus
Williams, #4 Amelie Mauresmo and #7 Lindsay Davenport (and 4-time 2002 champion
Anna Smashnova) in the same Moscow tournament? I mean, you could have pulled a
random person off the street and they certainly would have told that THAT was
going to happen. It was logical from the start.
And 28-year Jill Craybas, who'd never been past the QF in any tournament in
her entire career, going to Tokyo and actually winning a singles title? Now
that was a foregone conclusion when the draw was first announced. Anyone who
didn't see THAT just doesn't know this sport at all.
With both Williams sisters voluntarily off the schedule until the WTA
Championships the first week of November, I'm sure we'll now have a succession
of shoo-in champions just like Maleeva and Craybas. And the great thing about it
is that none of us will be surprised when a player who looked like an
afterthought on Monday is grasping a trophy on Sunday.
(Are you tired of this yet? I hope so, because I am.)
OF COURSE I was flabbergasted (well, maybe not "flabbergasted"... but how
often do you get to use a word like that and not feel stupid?) by Maleeva and,
incredibly, Craybas having championship weeks.
Actually, I think the best thing about it was that those two ladies saved me
from having to talk about a bunch of Russians yet again.
For that, ladies, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
S: Maggie Maleeva def. Lindsay Davenport
D: Dementieva/Husarova d. Dokic/Petrova
TOKYO (AIG), JAPAN
S: Jill Craybas def. Silvija Talaja
D: Asagoe/Miyagi d. Kuznetsova/Sanchez Vicario
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Maggie Maleeva
...at 27, the Bulgarian takes her 3rd Kremlin Cup (the others were in 1994-95)
with maybe the most impressive championship run (Smashnova. Venus, Mauresmo and
Davenport) of the season, as well as her career.
RISER: Meghannn Shaughnessy
...a week after upsetting Jelena Dokic in Leipzig, she does the same to
Anastasia Myskina in Moscow. Maybe she IS back, after all.
SURPRISE: Jill Craybas
...she'd never advanced past the QF. Ever. And it's not like this is her first
year on tour. She's 28! Her winning Tokyo might be the most unlikely scenario
of 2002.
VETERAN: Amanda Coetzer
...the 30-year old South African joined Maleeva in the Moscow SF and broke back
into the Top 20 on the heels of a quietly effective summer that will apparently
stretch into the fall.
NEW FACE: Sarah Taylor
...fashioned back-to-back SF with her run in Tokyo.
DOWNER: Jelena Dokic and Anna Kournikova
...with her 2r exit in Moscow, Dokic closes the late-year indoor surface season
at 0-2 and riding an overall 3-match losing streak as she fell from #5 to #8.
Kournikova just can't catch a break, as she was forced to retire from both
singles and doubles in Moscow after suffering partially torn ligaments in the
same ankle that forced her off the tour in 2001. She may not play again in
2002.
1.Maleeva in the Clutch
...Not only did Maleeva get three Top 10 wins this past week, she did it under
extreme conditions as she won 3rd set tie-breaks against both Venus Williams
(2r) and Lindsay Davenport (Final).
2.Tokyo Final - Craybas d. Talaja
...and she did it by digging out of a 0-4 hole in the final set (winning it
6-4).
3.Moscow 1r - Nadia Petrova d. Martina Hingis
...ranked #169, Petrova got her first big post-injury win. Welcome back.
4.Moscow 1r - Maleeva d. Smashnova
...Smashnova either wins the tournament title or loses in her opening match. I
guess that explains why she's won more titles (4) in 2002 than anyone but the
Williams sisters, but she's only ranked #18.
5.Moscow 2r - Shaughnessy d. Myskina
...two weeks, two big upsets.
HM-Bovina's the Best Russian in Moscow
...At the Kremlin Cup, the Russians DID NOT reign supreme... but Elena Bovina
came close. Fellow Russians were falling all around her. Zvonavera went down in
the 1r, while Myskina, Dementieva, Panova, Safina and Kournikova went out in the
2r. Only Petrova matched Bovina's QF result, but she needed an Anna K. 2r
retirement to get there. Bovina even knocked out two of the other Russians
herself, including 2001 Moscow RU Dementieva (who fell out of the Top 20). Of
course, she still failed to upset Davenport despite stretching her to three sets
for the third time this season.
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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
1.Serena Williams
2.Anastasia Myskina
3.Maggie Maleeva
4.Svetlana Kuznetsova
5.Elena Bovina
HM-Anna Smashnova
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RISER: Svetlana Kuznetsova
SURPRISE: Jill Craybas
VETERAN: Amanda Coetzer
NEW FACE: Sarah Taylor
DOWNER: Elena Dementieva
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===================================
SINGLES TOP 20
--------------
1.Serena Williams...6099
2.Venus Williams...4844
3.Jennifer Capriati...3759
4.Amelie Mauresmo...3062
5.Justine Henin...2994
6.Monica Seles...2960
7.Lindsay Davenport...2911
8.Jelena Dokic...2800
9.Kim Clijsters...2618
10.Martina Hingis...2448
11.Daniela Hantuchova...2423.75
12.Anastasia Myskina...1845
13.Chanda Rubin...1733
14.Silvia Farina Elia...1617
15.Sandrine Testud...1573
16.Maggie Maleeva...1615
17.Patty Schnyder...1353
18.Anna Smashnova...1348.50
19.Amanda Coetzer..1330
20.Nathalie Dechy...1265
WTA POINTS RACE
---------------
SINGLES
(TOP 16 go to L.A.)
-------------------
1.S.Williams...5596
2.V.Williams...4844
3.Capriati...3454
4.Mauresmo...2934
5.Seles...2796
6.Henin...2658
7.Dokic...2453
8.Hingis...2313
9.Hantuchova...2295
10.Clijsters...2156
11.Myskina...1917
12.Farina Elia...1519
13.Rubin...1525
14.Maleeva...1414
15.Smashnova...1357
16.Davenport...1347
17.Dechy...1269
18.Sugiyama...1241
19.Dementieva...1203
20.Schnyder...1191
21.Daniilidou...1186
--------------------
DOUBLES
(Top 8 teams go to L.A.)
1.Ruano-Pascual/Suarez...4055
2.Raymond/Stubbs...3446
3.Dementieva/Husarova...2402
4.Black/Likhovtseva...1877
5.Hantuchova/Sanchez Vicario...1777
6.Hingis/Kournikova...1241
7.Arendt/Horn-Huber...1116
8.Krizan/Srebotnik...919
9.Fujiwara/Sugiyama...913
10.Lee/Prakusya...912
===================================
*WEEKS AT #1 - 2002*
14...Serena Williams
14...Jennifer Capriati
11...Venus Williams
1....Lindsay Davenport
*OLDEST SINGLES CHAMPIONS*
30yr,1mo...Farina Elia (Strasbourg)
28yr,25wk..Seles (Madrid)
28yr,6mo...Raymond (Memphis)
28yr,3mo...Seles (Bogota)
28yr,3mo...Craybas (Tokyo AIG)
*WORST FINALS WINNING PCT (3 or more)*
.000...Lindsay Davenport (0-3)
.200...Justine Henin (1-4)
*WTA TIER I EVENTS in 2002*
Feb...Tokyo TPP...Martina Hingis
Mar...Indian Wells...Daniela Hantuchova
Apr...Miami...Serena Williams
Apr...Charleston...Iva Majoli
May...Berlin...Justine Henin
May...Rome...Serena Williams
Aug...Montreal...Amelie Mauresmo
Oct...Moscow...Maggie Maleeva
Oct...Zurich...??
===================================
*WEEK 41 PREDICTIONS*
Filderstadt, Germany (II-Hard/Indoor)
Final: Mauresmo def. Henin
...Picking Mauresmo didn't work out last week, so I'll try it again. Of course,
Mauresmo might have to get past her Moscow QF conqueror (Maleeva) in a 2r
matchup to do it.
=================================
*TDS SINGLES/DOUBLES COMBINED RANKS*
1.Serena Williams...297
2.Venus Williams...255
3.Jennifer Capriati...165
4.Monica Seles...140
5.Jelena Dokic...128
6.Justine Henin...117.5
7.Amelie Mauresmo...115
8.Martina Hingis...113.5
9.Daniela Hantuchova...96
10.Anna Smashnova...90
11.Kim Clijsters...82.5
12.Lisa Raymond...74
13.Chanda Rubin...66
14.Paola Suarez...65
15.Elena Bovina...63
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