For the past few years, Canada’s Rogers Cup presented by American Express has found itself bearing the brunt of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s problem with player withdrawals.
Last year in Montreal, eight of the current top ten originally entered the event. Four of them turned up to compete. Things did not get any better once the tournament started, and only four of the top ten seeds made it past the second round.
The tournament this year was fortunately not hit with as many withdrawals, but the field did lose Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis, Nicole Vaidisova, and Venus Williams.
World number one Justine Henin is still in the draw, along with her rival Jelena Jankovic, new No. 4 and Los Angeles champion Ana Ivanovic, and 2004 US Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova.
As a Tier I tournament, the Rogers Cup has a main draw of fifty-six singles players and twenty-eight doubles teams competing for $1,340,000 dollars.
A Quick Look at the Main Draw
Rested, rejuvenated, and with her shocking loss to Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon behind her, top seed Justine Henin is ready to return to the Tour. With the absence of her biggest rivals (the Williams sisters and Sharapova), Henin has a good chance of capturing her sixth title this year – and distance herself from the pack in the hunt for the season-ending top ranking. She has an excellent draw straight to the semifinals, where she could possibly meet Ana Ivanovic or Nadia Petrova.
Jelena Jankovic still has not managed to grab an elusive win over Justine Henin, but she may get another chance in the final. Getting to the championship match will not be easy for the second seed, who will open against a Canadian wildcard or qualifier. She is in the same quarter as Anna Chakvetadze, who already has two hardcourt event titles to her credit this summer. Other players to watch in this quarter include Shahar Peer, Aravane Rezai, and Sybille Bammer.
Svetlana Kuznetsova heads into the tournament as the third seed, although she lost her No. 4 spot on the rankings to Ana Ivanovic this morning. Kuznetsova’s season has been fair, although her 0-4 record in finals has been disappointing. This week, Kuznetsova has a good draw, but could run into her countrywoman Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals.
2006 US Open Series champion Ana Ivanovic is headed into the Rogers Cup hot off an excellent week at the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles. With so many top players battling injuries and lackluster seasons (i.e. Amelie Mauresmo), Ivanovic will undoubtedly be one of the early favorites to take home her first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows.
As the fourth seed, she will get the advantage of an opening round bye, giving her a chance to get some rest after her thrilling week in LA. Her draw could not be better, and on paper, Ivanovic is favored to play her way through the draw for a semifinal meeting with world number one Justine Henin. The last time they met was the final of Roland Garros, where the pressure of the moment got into Ivanovic’s head, and she meekly went out 6-1, 6-2.
“Henin has a good chance of capturing her fifth title this year – and distance herself from the pack in the hunt for the season-ending top ranking.”
She’ll be going for her 6th title not fifth, she won French, Eastbourne, Dubai, Warsaw, and Qatar :-P
Another exciting week of US Open Series!
Nick, thanks for catching that one!
So who are we picking for the final?
I’ll go out on a limp and pick Henin vs. Kuznetsova.
Semi: Henin vs. Ivanovic, Kuznetsova vs. Jankovic
Final: Henin vs. Kuznetsova
Champion: Henin