Sony Ericsson Tennis Championships: Day Three Preview

Although Tuesday had a rough start because of the low level performance of the players, Wednesday saw Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova, and Martina Hingis bringing their top games to the court.

Elena Dementieva’s hopes of reaching the semis for the first time in her career were all but snuffed out at the hands of Kuznetsova, but Kim Clijsters can sleep at peace tonight knowing that she even though she lost, she played a good, injury-free match against Maria Sharapova. Nadia Petrova may be sleeping a little bit more fitful as she has the knowledge that she blew her chances of going 2-0 against Martina Hingis, with her final match against a long-time foe, Justine Henin-Hardenne, who holds a 8-2 record over her head on the schedule for today.

Justine Henin-Hardenne will kick off day three’s action against Petrova, followed by world number one Amelie Mauresmo vs. Martina Hingis, and Svetlana Kuznetsova and Kim Clijsters finishing the day in the night session. The race for the year-end ranking may be narrowed down to just two women by the end of the night, as Justine needs just one more win to knock Mauresmo out of contention. Update: The AP has just announced that Amelie Mauresmo will officially lose the number one ranking.

Schedule for Thursday, November 9

Justine Henin-Hardenne vs. Nadia Petrova
Justine Henin-Hardenne struggled to a three-set win late Tuesday night against Martina Hingis, but for the third player gunning for a shot at the number one ranking, it was enough to get her on the round robin scoreboard. Her right leg continues to cast doubt on her chances, most notably because she had it taped with the most interesting tape job that I have seen in a while. She needs to keep her matches as short as possible, to spare any further injury, because from this point on, her competition will only get steeper.

Nadia Petrova showed that she was not as invincible as previously thought after her drubbing of Amelie Mauresmo on Tuesday when she was defeated by Martina Hingis in three sets on Wednesday.

Hingis moved Petrova all over the court in the match, and she now gets to face one of the tour’s most dominate players after just a few hours of rest. Mental strength and toughness has never been Petrova’s forte, and I cannot see her pulling off a victory over Henin-Hardenne right now, especially as it is not on clay.

My Pick to Win: Justine Henin-Hardenne in two sets

Amelie Mauresmo vs. Martina Hingis

Amelie Mauresmo was dealt a huge blow to her hopes of repeating her title and holding onto her ranking when she stumbled to a 6-2, 6-2 loss against Nadia Petrova. Nobody was more disgusted with her performance than Mauresmo and she was so miffed that she said she spoke better Spanish than she was playing tennis at the moment. I’ve never heard Mauresmo’s Spanish, but her playing was certainly bad on Tuesday night.

Unfortunately, her next match is against a player that has managed to get inside her head and shake her confidence in the past.

Martina Hingis and Amelie Mauresmo have a long history of stormy encounters, both on-and-off the court. Hingis still leads on the head-to-head stats, but her last victory was five years ago on clay. To make matter worse for the Swiss Miss, she has been stuck on court until almost midnight for two days straight, playing two three-setters back-to-back. Mauresmo has said that there is nothing wrong with her shoulder, so Martina had better rest up tonight for another long match.

My Pick to Win: Amelie Mauresmo in two sets

Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Kim Clijsters

It’s not often that two of the most popular and easy-going players get to face off against each other, but I would not expect their sweet-naturedness to get in the way of a good match tomorrow in Madrid. Svetlana Kuznetsova scored a straight sets win over Elena Dementieva on Tuesday, but she knows that she will be in for a much harder fight against Clijsters.

Svetlana has only been able to defeat Kim once out of their six meetings, and that was on clay - Clijsters’ worst surface.

Personally, I did not see anything seriously wrong with Kim’s performance yesterday, but rather, I think she was mastered by the skill of Maria Sharapova. Kim was moving well, she was playing aggressively, and I even saw a couple of her trademark splits. She’s hungry for a good showing in Madrid and could definitely use the confidence heading into her final season on Tour.

My Pick to Win: Kim Clijsters in three sets

What’s Happening in Madrid

Pretty in Pink Purple
You know you are worth a fortune when you can coordinate your entire outfit - including racquet - around the color of the court you are playing on.

Midnight Madrid Interview With Justine
In case any of you were wondering about the black tape on Justine’s leg, check out this interview from her official website.

Wednesday’s Match Reports
Svetlana Kuznetsova wins at Madrid, Sends Elena Dementieva 0-2
Maria Sharapova Dazzles at WTA Tennis Championships, Defeats Kim Clijsters
Martina Hingis Upsets Nadia Petrova at Madrid, Goes 1-1 in Round Robin

Thursday’s US Television Schedule

VERSUS is the former Outdoor Life Network.

Thursday, November 9 - Round Robin: 1st Match - VERSUS - 12:00PM-2:00PM (LIVE)
Thursday, November 9 - Round Robin: 2nd Match - VERSUS - 2:00PM-4:00PM (LIVE)
Thursday, November 9 - Round Robin: 3rd Match - VERSUS - 4:00PM-6:00PM (LIVE)
Thursday, November 9 - Match of the Day - VERSUS - 11:00PM-12:30AM

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