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WTA Backspin
February 10th
2003
by Todd Spiker
TENNISRULZ.com - February 2003/Week 6
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WTA BACKSPIN
by Todd Spiker
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ROUND AND ROUND, ROUND BY ROUND
(Creak... creak... creak. The Tennisrulz WTA Spinning Wheel is pushed into the
middle of the room. Pierre's got to get some oil for these wheels... they're
going to wake up the rest of the staff squeezing in their early-week nap in the
break room.)
Here we go... round and round the WTA Wheel goes, where it stops nobody
knows...
(spin)
It's stopped on Serena. Paris showed just how much confidence she gained by
completing her Serena Slam despite not playing all that well. It may have made
her even more unbeatable. Go ahead, stop and ponder that scary notion for a
moment. The rest of the field gives a nice round of "applause" to Emilie Loit
and Kim Clijsters for not derailing the Serena Train when they had the chance.
(spin)
Ahh, Amelie Mauresmo. Three and a half months out and she returns with an
impressive Paris RU that included a 6-0,6-0 win over a Top 20 player. The tears
of joy were well-earned. Unlike Martina Hingis, she looks to have crafted a
winning comeback.
(I hear noises in the back room. I think I have time for one final go-round.
Spin.)
Well, the third time was the charm. We've landed on Elena Dementieva. No one
had a more disconcerting week than Elena. In fact, she's the poster girl for
the spinning wheel.
She spun and landed on success early in Paris, rising like the Phoenix from
the ashes of disappointment to upset #5 Daniela Hantuchova in the QF, for once
never wavering after taking the 1st set. It wasn't a stretch to utter, "It's a
bird, it's a plane...it's Elena."
Then she spun the WTA wheel again and came up empty. Literally, in fact, to
the tune of a 0-6,0-6 SF loss to Mauresmo. Ouch. By the end of the week she
was no longer a superhero, she was the tide once again receding from the shore.
(The spinning wheel is pushed into the storage closet. It's time to ring the
bell to wake everyone up.)
Hmmm, I wonder what the biggest question coming out of Week 6 has turned out
to be: Will Serena EVER lose in 2003... or was the Wonder Girl upset just a
momentary smelling-salts moment for Dementieva? Could it be that Punch-Drunk
Elena is here for good after that embarrassing bagel?
Maybe we'll find out by the time the Spinning Wheel is repaired and ready to
return to action in the near future.
PARIS, FRANCE (TIER II-HARD INDOOR)
S: Serena Williams def. Amelie Mauresmo
D: Schett/Schnyder d. Cohen-Aloro/Bartoli
======================================
HYDERABAD, INDIA (TIER IV-HARD)
S: Tamarine Tanasugarn d. Iroda Tulyaganova
D: Likhovtseva/Tulyaganova d. Koulikovskaya/Poutchek
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Serena Williams
...The Serena Train continues to roll unabated down the tracks. The Melbourne
shakiness is gone now, and that's not good for the rest of the field.
RISER: Amelie Mauresmo & Tamarine Tanasugarn
...Mauresmo returned in midseason form after missing three and half months, as
she shed tears of joy, bageled Dementieva and then did what she often does after
a successful tournament -- she pulled out of the next event, claiming injury.
Meanwhile, the 25-year old from Thailand used the inaugural Indian Open to
finally notch her first pro title.
SURPRISE: Flavia Pennetta
...the 20-year old Italian took out Sucha, Torrens Valero and Pierce en route to
the Hyderabad QF.
VETERAN: Mary Pierce
...yes, she DID actually manage to string together two victories without
injuring herself.
FRESH FACE: Maria Kirilenko
...the 16-year old Russian junior champ made her first mark on the pro tour with
an impressive QF run in Hyderabad.
DOWN: Martina Hingis
...it's not a good sign for your tennis future when you publicly announce you've
bought yourself a horse as an "after-career" present.
1.Paris QF - Dementieva d. Hantuchova
...the talent is still in there, but Dementieva has a difficult time finding it
these days. She did against #5 Wonder Girl, but...
2.Paris SF - Mauresmo d. Dementieva
...immediately misplaced it again the very next match, going down in humiliating
fashion 6-0,6-0.
3.Hyderabad 2r - Kirilenko d. Widjaja
...Teen vs. Teen. And the Russian topped the Indonesian in three sets after
overcoming 5 match points in the 2nd. For Widjaja, coming a week after blowing
a 5-0 1st set lead over Dokic, this match has now set up a confidence-sapping
pattern that she'll have to figure a way to end.
4.Hyderabad F - Tanasugarn d. Tulyaganova
...in a battle of players who always seem to come up short in big matches, it
was Tanasugarn who erased her 0-5 career record in finals.
5.Paris F - S.Williams d. Mauresmo
...Undefeated? So far, so good.
HM-Paris 1r - Cohen Aloro d. Pistolesi
...the 19-year old, #121-ranked Frenchwoman followed up her improvement last
week with another quality win.
...22-year old Martina Hingis, who may have
announced her retirement in the French sports newspaper L'Equipe: "A return to
competition is inconceivable, in the short run at least. That is certain.
Tennis was part of my life for so many years, but now it's finished. And life
goes on."
======================================
**SINGLES TOP 20 - Feb.10, 2003**
1.Serena Williams............7273
2.Venus Williams.............5089
3.Kim Clijsters..............3763
4.Justine Henin-Hardenne.....3350
5.Daniela Hantuchova.........2835
6.Amelie Mauresmo............2805
7.Jennifer Capriati..........2790
8.Lindsay Davenport..........2534
9.Monica Seles...............2364
10.Jelena Dokic..............2353
11.Anastasia Myskina.........2150
12.Chanda Rubin..............2127
13.Patty Schnyder............1787
14.Maggie Maleeva............1558
15.Anna Pistolesi...........1536+
16.Eleni Daniilidou.........1528+
17.Elena Bovina.............1493+
18.Elena Dementieva..........1455
19.Nathalie Dechy............1359
20.Silvia Farina Elia........1356
*MOST WTA FINALS*
2...Serena Williams (2-0)
2...Lindsay Davenport (1-1)
*MOST WTA SF*
2...Serena Williams (2-0)
2...Lindsay Davenport (2-0)
2...Kim Clijsters (1-1)
2...Justine Henin-Hardenne (0-2)
*2003 FIRST-TIME CHAMPIONS*
January...Nathalie Dechy, Alicia Molik
February...Tamarine Tanasugarn
*MOST DOUBLES TITLES (D/M)*
2...Martina Navratilova (1/1)
2...Elena Likhovtseva (2/0)
*MOST SINGLES TITLES - 2002/03*
10...Serena Williams (8/2)
7....Venus Williams (7/0)
5....Kim Clijsters (4/1)
4....Anna Pistolesi (4/0)
*TDS COMBINED RANKINGS - WEEK 6*
1.Serena Williams.............88
2.Lindsay Davenport...........48
3.Kim Clijsters.............39.5
4.Meghannn Shaughnessy.......33.5
5.Eleni Daniilidou............32
6.Venus Williams..............30
7.Alicia Molik................28
8.Tamarine Tanasugarn.........27
9.Monica Seles................25
10.Nathalie Dechy.............24
======================================
ANTWERP, BELGIUM (II-Hard Indoor)
SF: Venus d. Hantuchova; K.Clijsters d. Dokic
F: Venus d. K.Clijsters
...Chalk, chalk, chalk. How boring is that? But with Wonder Girl's consistency
wavering a little early in '03, Dokic still finding her way after a late start,
Henin-Hardenne playing for the first time since Oz, Clijsters' reaction to her
Serena Choke a big unknown and Mauresmo's late withdrawal... there's little else
to do here.
DOHA, QATAR (III-Hard Outdoor)
SF: Seles d. Maleeva; Kuznetsova d. Tanasugarn
F: Seles d. Kuznetsova
...I so want to pick the 17-year old Russian, but I'm just crossing my finger
she escapes her 1r match with Schiavone (if she doesn't, slip her fellow Russian
Myskina into the RU slot). Instead, I'll go with the #1 seeded
(sheesh...again?) American Grand Dame of Yugoslavian (or is it Serbian &
Montenegran?) Tennis.
Visit the Elena Dementieva page here
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