May 22-27, 2006
Tier III
Istanbul, Turkey
2005 Results: (1) Venus Williams d. (2) Nicole Vaidisova 6-3, 6-2
Tournament director Ilyas Islamoglu planned on having Lindsay Davenport as his top seed, but she pulled out earlier this week due to her back injury. Next he lined up Maria Sharapova, who probably would have drawn more fans than Davenport, but she withdrew because her sprained ankle has not completely healed.
Regardless of Davenport and Sharapova missing, the Istanbul Cup is not totally devoid of big name attractions. Anastasia Myskina is in as the top seed, followed by Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld. Indian celebrity Sania Mirza is the number five seed, behind Anna Chakvetadze and Shahar Peer. Australia’s Alicia Molik is also in the main draw as a wildcard entry.
A Tier III event, the Istanbul Cup has a main draw of thirty singles players and sixteen doubles teams competing for a total purse of $200,000 (USD) in prize money. Anastasia Myskina and Anna-Lena Groenefeld received first-round byes.
Seeded Players:
1. Anastasia Myskina
2. Anna-Lena Groenefeld
3. Anna Chakvetadze
4. Shahar Peer
5. Sania Mirza
6. Catalina Castano
7. Mara Santangelo
8. Jelena Kostanic
Player Profiles:
Anastasia Myskina
Myskina needs to win this tournament or at least go deep into the draw if she wants to build her confidence heading into Roland Garros next week. She stormed to the title at the French Open in 2004 and reached a career high of No. 2, but her career has been inconsistent in the past two years. After leading the field of solid Russian players only a few years ago, she has now fallen behind Petrova, Sharapova, Dementieva, and Kuznetsova. She lost in the third round of the Internazionali d’Italia to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Sania Mirza
The Indian teenager took the tennis world by storm last season when she became the first ever Indian woman to reach the top fifty in the world rankings. She reached a career high of No. 31 in October of 2005 after an impressive run at the U.S. Open.
Unfortunately for Mirza, the only headlines she has been generating this season have been her increased problems as a celebrity in her Muslim nation off court and her slump on court. She is still ranked in the top fifty, but she has been losing consistently to players ranked way beneath her. Wildcard Anna Tatishvili, who was then ranked at No. 1144, took Mirza out of the NASDAQ-100 and then American Lisa Raymond knocked her out in the first round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships.
Alicia Molik
Molik’s road back to the tennis tour has not been nearly as smooth as she hoped. She has already played a ITF Circuit Event and the Italian Open, but she has yet to win a match. She does have a protected injury status, where she can enter WTA Tour events on a wildcard, but it does not apply to Grand Slams. In order to get into the main draw of Roland Garros next week, she will have to play in Australia’s wildcard playoff. Unless she is able to improve her results this week, Molik will be watching the French Open from the sidelines.
Alicia Molik plays her opening round against a qualifier.
Tournament Information Online:
Tournament Website
Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Tournament Profile
Main Draw
