After stopping off in Stanford and San Diego, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and the US Open Series bus is headed down to beautiful southern California for the East West Bank Classic presented by Herbalife.
Located at the Home Depot Center, this year’s East West Bank Classic (formerly known as the JPMorgan Chase Open) will be showcasing the talents of Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic, and Roland Garros finalist Ana Ivanovic.
The tournament’s secondary draw card, Serena Williams, pulled out last week due to continued problems with her left thumb. According to the rumor mill, Serena still cannot use a two-handed backhand.
As a Tier II tournament, the East West Bank Classic has a main draw of fifty-six singles players and sixteen doubles teams, competing for $600,000 in prize money.
A Quick Look at the Draw
Maria Sharapova returned to action last week in San Diego sporting a new hairdo and a new service motion. The world No. 2 has cut down on the length of her backswing, in hopes of alleviating her shoulder problem. Judging from her results in San Diego, it was a good decision.
The two-time Acura Classic champion is in the same quarter of the draw as Daniela Hantuchova, a player who should never be underestimated in California. Both of Hantuchova’s titles have come on the hardcourts in the Golden State and despite her streaky results, she remains one of the fittest players on the Tour.
Second seed Jelena Jankovic had a rough time coming back to the Tour after taking a few weeks of much needed R&R after Wimbledon. An upset by Maria Kirilenko jolted the world No. 3 back to earth and this week she should be better prepared and more aggressive mentally and physically. She has a relatively easy draw, although Sybille Bammer could be a tricky opponent in the third round.
Ana Ivanovic will open her pursuit of a second title in 2007 against a qualifier or American Jamea Jackson. Jackson had knee surgery several months ago, and the road to recovery has been both bumpy and long. A few years ago, she might have been a threat to Ivanovic, but with the current state of her game, she probably won’t be able to push the third seed into a third set. Other players to watch in this quarter include Marion Bartoli, Tatiana Golovin, and Lucie Safarova.
Fourth seed Nadia Petrova is hard at work trying to turn her streaky season around, but she is sitting in probably the toughest quarter of the draw. Petrova is not the only one in the quarter trying to get her game back together as Martina Hingis has had a rough 2007 as well. Hingis will probably open against the resurgent Sania Mirza and judging by Mirza’s performances over the past few weeks, an upset is not entirely out of the question. Petrova will play her first match against either former top ten player Alicia Molik, a qualifier, or a lucky loser.
