Conchita Martinez Tournament Preview

by J.M.

Conchita performed quite well last week in Charleston by reaching the 3^rd round before falling to world number 1 Serena Williams 2-6 2-6. This week, she moves on to Amelia Island where she has to defend 3^rd round points so hopefully she will be able to handle the pressure quite well and at least defend those points! She is situated on the bottom half of the draw and is this year seeded 13^th at the tournament and will therefore receive a bye in the opening round.

Draw Analysis:

In the second round, Conchita will have to play either one of the following players:

• Shenay Perry- this young American has been given a wildcard into the tournament and has only played one WTA Tour event this year. This was at Sarasota last week where she was defeated by Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn in straight sets in the opening round. Other than that, she performed fantastically at a 50K challenger around a month ago. Her lack of experience against top players and her inexperience of clay should mean Conchita is in for a pretty relaxed match.

• Tathiana Garbin: Conchita played this Italian last week in Charleston in the second round in comfortable sets, prevailing 6-2 6-4. As a result, both players will know each other’s game but Conchita must be wary as Garbin will now tactics to attack Conchita’s game and if she is not at her best, might be stretched to three sets or even lose.

Now it is in the 3^rd round where the draw gets very tough, as she will probably have to play American Lindsay Davenport who is seeded 2^nd at the tournament. Their head-to-head record is as follows 

As is evident, they have some pretty tough battles over the years, with Davenport winning their more recent meetings in convincing style. However, Lindsay has never beaten Conchita on clay before as her power game is often reduced in effectiveness due to the slow nature of the balls on the court. Although Davenport also made the semis at Charleston last week, it is highly likeable that Conchita would be able to stretch Davenport or even beat her on the clay court surface!

Quarterfinals….

If Conchita were to make the quarterfinals she will most likely face either Patty Schnyder or Meghannn Shaughnessy. Patty had a great year last year on clay by reaching the finals at Charleston (Defeating three top 10 players in the process!) and the 4^th round of the French Open. She only has to defend 2^nd round points here from last year and she won’t have a lot of pressure as a result. However, as defending finalist last week at Charleston, she became a victim in her opening round match to unheralded Russian Vera Zvonareva so she will be not as experienced on the clay courts as Conchita is in 2003. Martinez also leads their career meetings at 5-2 but was absolutely demolished in their last encounter at Switzerland, although this was on a completely different surface.

Shaughnessy, on the other hand, has had an unbelievable start to the year and has been one of the only players to defeat Venus Williams. She recently reached the 3^rd round last week also at Charleston before being defeated by surprise semifinalist, Ashley Harkleroad. This will be a very hard match if they were to meet as Meghannn has defeated Conchita the last two times they have played in devastating fashion.

Semifinals-New Rival???

Conchita has had to play Jelena Dokic, who is her friend and now rival, on several occasion on clay. Conchita won their first six meetings but has failed to win one of their last encounters out of five meetings. They played three times on clay last year with Dokic prevailing in all of them in three sets. This proves that Conchita can indeed handle the power game of players such as Jelena and their meeting at the French Open last year certainly proved this to be true. Conchita was up 6-3 6-5 before Dokic stormed back to take the tiebreaker and dispose of her opponent 6-2 in the final set. They would know each other’s style of game particularly well, especially considering they reached the French Open finals together in doubles, a remarkable feat for any player on the WTA Tour! Expect Conchita to fall in again three sets if these players met in the semis.

Another player that could face Conchita in the semis would be falling star Jennifer Capriati. They are both even in their head-to-head record and have only played on clay once, with Capriati emerging as the victor in three sets. What was particularly interesting was their match in Zurich last year when Conchita dismantled Capriati in fantastic fashion, winning 6-0 6-3. This was absolutely remarkable as the surface was hardcourt and not even clay!. However, they have already played this year in the QF at Dubai with Capriati winning easily in two sets. Again expect to Conchita to fall in three if she met Capriati at this stage of the tournament.

Finals>? Can she go all the way?!

If Conchita made the finals, it would be a great achievement for herself, her ranking and her confidence. It would be very hard to determine who would reach the final on the other side of the draw but the main players that could make it would be Justine Henin-Hardenne, Amanda Coetzer and Elena Dementieva. Conchita has a chance to beat all of these players so we will just have to wait and see how the draw unfolds over the following week!

Predictions:

2^nd round: Martinez defeats in straight set 

Quarterfinals: Martinez defeats Davenport in 3 sets

Semifinals: Dokic defeats Conchita in 3 sets

Visit the Conchita Martinez webpage here

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