Sony Ericsson Tennis Championships: Day Two Preview
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Nov 7, 2006 | Print
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Tuesday did not reveal the most brilliant tennis ever played by the top stars on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, but Nadia Petrova, Maria Sharapova, and Justine Henin-Hardenne all recorded opening wins in the round robin format. Amelie Mauresmo’s loss was the biggest shock of day one, and Martina Hingis managed to push Justine Henin-Hardenne to a late night, three-set thriller.
Wednesday’s action will see an all-Russian clash between Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva, a hard-hitting battle between Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters, and the Swiss Miss trying to keep from going into a 0-2 hole against Nadia Petrova.
Schedule for Wednesday, November 8
Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Elena Dementieva
Tomorrow’s first match at Madrid will be a battle of the Russians, which is becoming more and more common on the WTA Tour. With four Russians solidly entrenched in the top five and Elena Dementieva rounding out the top ten, the term “The Russians are Coming” is no longer just the name of a Carl Reiner movie.
Svetlana Kuznetsova’s 2006 season saw her claim three titles, including the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open. She is at a career high of No. 4 in the world, and I hope that next season we will see Kuznetsova improve her mental game and take home a second Grand Slam title.
Elena Dementieva had a disastrous opening round match against Maria Sharapova on Monday and Maria was not even close to playing at her best level. Her fifteen double faults handed Maria over three free games and a semifinal berth does not look promising for the world No. 8.
Dementieva is a self-confessed slow-starter and did manage to pull herself together towards the end of the second set against Sharapova. If Kuznetsova can seize the advantage at the start of tomorrow’s match, I would look for Dementieva finding herself in a 0-2 hole by the end of Wednesday night.
My Pick to Win: Svetlana Kuznetsova in two sets
Maria Sharapova vs. Kim Clijsters
Maria Sharapova’s enjoying herself in Madrid, rightly so after her spectacular fall season, but her performance yesterday against Elena Dementieva was only mediocre. Her serve - ordinarily one of her best weapons - let her down in her first match and she only managed to achieve an overall 53% first serve percentage.
She got away with it against Dementieva, but Kim Clijsters will be a completely different story. Their meetings in the past have been close, but Clijsters has managed to dominate 4-1, with their last match swinging in favor of Maria.
Kim Clijsters had a great run in Hasselt last week, culminating with the Tier III title, but the players she defeated hardly prepared her to contend with the world’s best in Madrid. Facing Maria Sharapova in her opening match will be a good test of her wrist, as Sharapova can hit just as hard as Clijsters on any day of the week.
What could throw the match in the favor of Clijsters is the fact that Maria’s serve was off against Dementieva. If Kim is able to take advantage of Sharapova’s weak second serve, we may see an upset in favor of the congenial Belgium.
My Pick to Win: Maria Sharapova in three sets
Nadia Petrova vs. Martina Hingis
Nadia Petrova scored a shocking upset over world number one Amelie Mauresmo on Monday for an early lead in the yellow group. Her victory was solid and quick, plus she only surrendered one service break.
Memories of her disastrous summer are far behind her and Petrova is playing at the same level that brought her the title only a few weeks ago in Moscow.
It has been four years since Petrova saw Hingis starring at her from the opposite side of the net, but she does have the knowledge that she defeated her 6-2, 6-2 in their last meeting.
Martina Hingis did well by pushing Justine Henin-Hardenne to three sets, but the Swiss Miss ran out of gas after the first couple of games in the deciding set. Nothing pleased me more than to hear Hingis was making a comeback back in December, and she has been impressive as she has climbed back into the top ten.
Unfortunately, Martina has been stuck in a rut since winning at Kolkata, and you have to wonder what will be going on in her head if she winds up 0-2 after just two days of competition. Until Martina figures out a way to outplay the rest of the top ten players, she will never see her goals of another Grand Slam accomplished.
My Pick to Win: Nadia Petrova in two sets
What’s Happening In Madrid
In Quotes: Justine Henin-Hardenne in Madrid
Justine Henin-Hardenne still thinks she has her best tennis still in her, and after her 2006 season, I’m inclined to believe her. She did say that she plans on playing for two more years, but personally, I would not take this as a set retirement date, merely just a goal in sight.
American women conspicuous by their absence
One of the big topics of the Championships has been the absence of the Americans. Lindsay Davenport is the highest ranked US star at No. 19. Unfortunately next season does not look any better unless Venus and Serena start playing more regularly, as Lindsay is only planning on playing 7-8 events all year.
Live Audio Feed from Eurosport
Eurosport is airing a live, audio feed of the Championships for listeners around the world.
Rennae Stubbs’ Madrid Blog
Doubles tennis star Rennae Stubbs is blogging for the WTA from Madrid.
Tuesday’s Video Highlights
Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Theater is airing a video clip of Tuesday’s highlights.
Wednesday’s US Television Schedule
VERSUS is the former Outdoor Life Network.
Wednesday, November 8 - Round Robin: 1st Match - VERSUS - 12:00PM-2:00PM (LIVE)
Wednesday, November 8 - Round Robin: 2nd Match - VERSUS - 2:00PM-4:00PM (LIVE)
Wednesday, November 8 - Round Robin: 3rd Match - VERSUS - 4:00PM-6:00PM (LIVE)
Wednesday, November 8 - Match of the Day - VERSUS - 11:00PM-12:30AM
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Chris | Nov 7, 2006 | Reply
No predictions who will win in how many sets?
Aaress | Nov 8, 2006 | Reply
Chris - I completely forgot!!! Thanks for the reminder - I’m working on it right now.
Brant | Nov 8, 2006 | Reply
My predictions:
Svetty in 3
Sharapova in 3
Petrova in 3
Chris | Nov 8, 2006 | Reply
I’m predicting Dementieva wins against Clijsters and Kuznetsova (her A-game is brought much more consistently against them than Sharapova, against whom she’s never played well, even the two times she beat her) in three sets, but it could very well not happen that way. So if she beats one and not the other, is there any slight chance to get into the semis bar a player pulls out with injury, if that would even put her in there?
Chris | Nov 8, 2006 | Reply
And I’m with you Brant, I’d love a trio of three set matches. Women’s tennis is so short.
Jol | Nov 8, 2006 | Reply
Kuznetsova in 2 (6-4, 6-2)
Petrova in 2 (6-2, 6-2)
Why? I am sure they are going to use Sun Tzu tactics: Attack the enemy’s strategy. As well, they are more hungry than their opponent.
Kim Clijsters in 3 (7-5, 6-4, 7-5)
Why? She’ll keep Sharapova on the run, attack her weaknesses, and cause her to lose confidence.
Jol | Nov 8, 2006 | Reply
disregard the typo on Kim’s score.
should read (7-5, 4-6, 7-5).
Aaress | Nov 8, 2006 | Reply
Chris, if Elena loses today, her chances of making it into the semifinals will be next to none. With the round robin format, her fate will then lie in the hands of the other players.
If Dementieva loses this afternoon, she will be put in a must-win position in her next match against Kim Clijsters - and Elena has a 3-10 record against Kim.
I’ve not done my research to see if anyone has actually ever made it into the semis with a 1-2 record, but maybe someone else knows the stats.
Brant | Nov 8, 2006 | Reply
aha easy… Mauresmo made it through to the final of the 2003 Champs (first year of roundrobin format)… she has lost in the roundrobin to Clijsters and Rubin in 3 setters, yet her win against Dementieva in streaight sets gave her a place in the knockout.
So how about that… she lost most her roundrobin matches, and still finsihed runnerup!
Brant | Nov 8, 2006 | Reply
By the way… i am SO glad that Kimmy is playing Maria first… my two faves! I think, although Kim will not win the match, it is good for her to play against the only other player I don’t mind if she loses to first up, in order to get some matchpractice against the top player… AHA!
Aaress | Nov 8, 2006 | Reply
Thanks for answering the round robin question Brant!
Okay, so there is a precedent for a 0-2 player reaching the semis, but after watching Kim Clijsters today, I can’t see her losing to Dementieva.