OK, so its an ambitious title this week, but i think by the time you finish reading this article, and have a look at the draw, another title is definately a conclusion we could anticipate this time next week.

This is Maria's last tournament of 2003. What started out as a disappointing opening to the year has turned into an electrifying rise up the rankings. At the start of the tournament here, Maria was ranked 32 in the world, a tremendous acheivement for someone who is so young, and reletively inexperienced, and testament to the incredible talent that Maria possesses. There will be a proper, fully extensive, year review on the site soon after this tournament finishes, and so i do not wish to tread on the toes of such writings. However, needless to say, Maria certainly deserves some congratulations for her acheivements, and all members of staff at tennisrulz are happy to offer such congratulations. 

I am deliberately stringing out the introduction in this weeks article as i can honestly say i can take nothing from the official site. There will be the obvious and now standard information available later in the article, but there are other issues which need addressing and deliberating.

Let us not deny how successful last week was for Maria. A semi final appearance, and a doubles title is by no means a bad week. However, the semi final defeat to Kim Clijsters will hopefully have opened a number of eyes, most importantly Maria's. Maria's recent run of form has been nothing less than fantastic, but it is still important to remember that she is still a relative novice. The defeat to Clijsters will hopefully have highlighted that Maria still has lot of hard work before her before she is considered a top ten player. The nature of the womans game is such that there is a huge gap between the top 6 or 7, and then there is another level who fight over the remaining top 10 places (although it woudl seem that Nastja Myskina, Elena Dementieva and Chanda Rubin are doing their utmost to make the grade). When a Grand Slam comes round, then it woudl take a brave man to bet on even Ai Sugiyama. This is not a denigration of Sugiyama's abilities, but rather an identification of the huge gap that exists between the top and the next level. This is obvious to all of us who follow the sport. What is hopefully obvious to Maria is that this gap exists. One would hope that this time next year, her game has progressed to a sufficient level so as to be a really tough opponent for the top players. Until then, Maria will remain to be seen as the beautiful prodigy that uninformed members of the media continue to label her as. I have no doubt this will be the case, and results like the one she suffered on saturday will only aid her as she strives for this goal.

And so, to Quebec. The site is completely in French, and my linguistic skills are not what they used to be. Regardless, if ou feel you can brave it, or your French is good, then the link is http://www.challengebell.com. Enjoy.

The event is played on indoor hardcourt, which as we well know is a surface which Maria's game is well suited to. It is a Tier III event, again with prize money of $170,000 and a possible 120 points for rankings, which would push Maria up to 29th, or around that mark. Any othre info is available on the site, and the process for ticket applications is still up and runnig, so if you are reading this in Canada and can get there, why not go and see how Maria plays.

Being second seed, Maria gets a bye for the first time in her career. So her second round opponent will be the winner of the match between Els Callens and Miho Saeki, which should be the Belgian. At world number 78, she shouldn't prove to be too hard an opponent, but despite a poor showing in recent weeks, she has produced some good performances this year post-US Open, beating both Stephenson and Shaughnessy in Leipzig. Nevertheless, Maria should overcome her opponent and reach the quarters.

Where she is likely to face Anca Barna. The two played each other last week in the quarters at Luxembourg, where Maria won 6-2 in the third after going a set down. It will obviously be another stern test, last weeks score being testament to Barna's talent and ability, but again, i think Maria will repeat last weeks result and go through.

The semi final will be between Maria and probably Laura Granville. Her results have been disappointing recently, and she has not gone past the second round in any of her last 4 events. However, this week he draw looks good enough for her to reach this stage. However, i dont think she will prove too much of a challenge, and infact, i imagine the match against Barna will be harder than the match between Maria and her second final appearance in three tournaments.

The top seed for the event is Mary Pierce, but dont think she will make the final this week, and for some reason think Marion Bartoli will squeeze through to the final. Is there any logic behind this? Looking at Bartoli's results of late, no. But i definately dont think Pierce will make the final. So for argument sake, lets say that Bartoli is the opponent. In all honesty, no one on the other side of the draw looks capable of beating Maria. If she manages to maintain the level she has been playing, then it could well be another title.

There is however, one more opponent Maria needs to overcome this week. Fatigue will play a huge part. In Maria's last two events, she has reached the finals of both doubles events, and reached one final and one semi. Now i dont need to tell you, that that is a lot of tennis to play over such a short space of time. I couldnt tell you if she is in the doubles this week, such is the information available on the site, but hopefully someone will find out and post on the board, so keep your eyes there if you are interested. But if she does make the final, which i fully expect her to, let us hope that it is not one match too far.