Preview: Pilot Pen Tennis
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Aug 20, 2006 | Print
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August 21-26, 2006
New Haven, Connecticut
Tier II
2005 Results: (1) Lindsay Davenport d. (2) Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 6-4
The 2006 Pilot Pen tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut has a player’s list that most tournament directors would almost sell their right arms to have at their event. The last stop on the US Open series road-trip is Pilot Pen, and both the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour will both be in New Haven for this joint event. Last year’s finalist Amelie Mauresmo is headlining this year as the No. 1 seed, along with world No. 3 Justine Henin-Hardenne, Elena Dementieva, Nadia Petrova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Patty Schnyder and defending champion Lindsay Davenport. The only members of the top ten that are missing are Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova, and Nicole Vaidisova.
As a Tier II tournament, the field at the Pilot Pen has a main draw of twenty-eight singles players and sixteen doubles teams competing for $600,000 in prize money.
Seeded Players
1. Amelie Mauresmo
2. Justine Henin-Hardenne
3. Elena Dementieva
4. Nadia Petrova
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova
6. Patty Schnyder
7. Lindsay Davenport
8. Anastasia Myskina
Draw Preview
First Quarter
Amelie Mauresmo and Lindsay Davenport are slated for a quarterfinal showdown later this week, but at this point, it looks like Davenport will have a tough road just to reach the quarterfinals. Davenport is scheduled to play Slovakia’s Katarina Srebotnik and hopefully her results will be better than her last tournament in California. The top quarter is full of dangerous floaters, including Francesca Schiavone, Elena Likhovtseva, and Anna Chakvetadze, if she has recovered from her arm injury.
Second Quarter
Nadia Petrova received a first round bye as the fourth seed, but she has had horrible results over the past couple of months. Petrova has not won a match since May, and she is up against either Gisela Dulko or Marion Bartoli in the second round. Patty Schnyder is the next highest seed in the third quarter, and both she and Petrova could face some tough opposition from either Shahar Peer or Nathalie Dechy.
Third Quarter
Because the field is so deep at this tournament, several of the first round matches are what you would normally expect to see in the second and third rounds at other events. Anna-Lena Groenefeld will be up against Daniela Hantuchova in her first round, as well as Tatiana Golovin vs. Alicia Molik. Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova are the top-ranked seeds in this quarter.
Bottom Quarter
Anastasia Myskina has had a shot at bumping Lindsay Davenport out of the top ten a couple of times over the past few weeks, but she has not been able to capitalize on her chances. Myskina did not play New Haven last season because she was out with an ankle injury, so she once again has a chance of reaching the top ten. She will play her first match at Pilot Pen this season against one of her fellow Russians, Dinara Safina. Justine Henin-Hardenne rounds out the bottom of the draw, but she should have an easy road to at least the quarters.
Former Champions in the Main Draw
Lindsay Davenport - 2005
Pilot Pen Tennis Information Online
Official Tournament Website
Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Tournament Profile
Main Draw
Television Listings
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