It's rather disappointing for a purported Tier I; but accordingly it presents a prime opportunity for some of the women on their way up in the rankings (not the least of whom is Serena, who will be looking for a third consecutive title) to grab the big points on offer.

I already knew the Top 4 players would be missing (Henin from presumably fatigue post-Miami, Sharapova with the nagging hamstring injury that also will see her out of Fed Cup, Mauresmo still recovering from her appendectomy, and Clijsters with her snubbing of the entire clay season). I hadn't, however, anticipated that all but two of the Top 10 would also take a pass--including Kuznetsova, Hingis, Chakvetadze and even defending champion Petrova. That means Vaidisova and Jankovic will be the unlikely top two seeds.

As if that weren't irksome enough, Venus once again has landed squarely into her sister's portion of the draw, putting them on course for a third-round clash.

At any rate, the draw can be found here and projected QFs are as follows:

=====
Vaidisova (Bammer?) v Zvonareva or Ivanovic
Safina v Golovin or Schnyder
--
Li or Schiavone v Venus or Serena
Peer v Jankovic
=====

I'm really not sure what I'd like to see emerge from that motley group of match-ups. The victor of a Vaidisova v Ivanovic QF in the top half, and a Williams sister or Peer from the bottom half, probably.

Not another Venus vs Serena draw projection! :rolleyes: roflmao

Venus gets another crappy Tier 1 draw :rolleyes:

Ah well, one match at a time ;)

no, I just found out my hingis is out :(

she better be injured, she don't usually pull out of tournaments. i know that sounds evil, but i'd rather her really be injured, then pretending so she don't play

apparently its a hip injury or something :shrug:

TBH though, i think its just hingis taking a breather after her miami loss ;)

was it from sex?

roflmao

who knows :lol:

it better not have been :angry: . besides, i think knobhead wasn't there anyway, gladly ;)

Stepanek was ther Bliv ;) he actually got further than his wife to be :lol:

Damn it! Both the sisters need points I wish they would stop being drawn together :angry:
Oh well at least if they are getting drawn in the same sections in these tournaments it seems less likely they will in subsequent tournaments such as Wimbledon ;)

And why does Serena keep drawing Peer :rolleyes: I want her to play someone new :lol:

Im going for a Serena Zvonareva Final :D

Failing that a Serena Golovin Final would be quite good, in the last couple of years the sisters have done well at avenging each others upsets :lol:

I did my maths (and not taking into account anyone else's ranking points), but am I correct in saying a win here will lift Serena to six or seven in the world. :unsure:

I really don't think Venus should be looking to pick up too many points on the clay, sure she has had success on it before but it's niot her bext surface by a long shot. I just don't think Venus is patient enough on clay. :shrug:

wow ALOT of ppl missing from the draw :o
disappointing for a Tier I event :(

aww, hopefully Li used her early exit from amelia island, to practice a bit, and hopefully if all goes according to plan, gets to the QF against the williams...

*fingers crossed*

no i weren't talking about miami, i meant this past week ;) :P

and i know ur trying to annoy with that 'wife to be' malarchy :angry:

Erm ...

afraid that's not how probabilities work ... :wacko: ;)

It is in my head :lol:

Besides Im a great believer in the law of averages and fate and things flattening themselves out.

The last time Venus and Serena both played a tournament when they were both in separate sides of the door was the AO 2005. This streak of them being drawing in the same side can't go on forever, it's got to stop somewhere :shrug:

wow!
last time they were on separate sides of a draw was AO 2005, thats quite a surprising fact...

Peer has played very well on hard courts for the beginning of 2007, it will be good to see how she copes with the change to Clay.

My favourite, Li Na, to be honest, i really dont think her game is suited to clay at all :( she is impatient with shots, and normally makes the winners in matches, and hits many unforced errors.
i expect the errors to creep higher, and lower winners :(
awwww... but thats just my opinion, hopefully im wrong :wub:

Peer will be a contender on the clay Im sure :)

And Id bet Li Na will make a splash at Wimbledon again ;)

awww, i hope so too ^^ :wub:

though matching or bettering her QF appearance from last year, will be hard.. though i think grasscourts really suit Li's game, fast points, fast balls, many winners.

With a title run here, Serena will indeed land in the No 7 spot, unless it's Vaidisova whom she defeats in the final, since the Czech teen (who went out in the first round last year and thus has no points to defend) will claim No 7 for herself with the finalist points in that case.

Competition for the lower half of the Top 10 is really getting very tight, with Dementieva and soon Petrova (losing all of her title points this week) having relinquished their long-held spots.

and i think Schnyder will fall into the lower spots in the Top 20, being a finalist last year at charleston, she has alot of points to defend, i can see her dropping to 18/19

and soon, maybe even out of the top 20

Vaidisova match, one set all, and her opponent is up a break of serve in the 3rd :o

46 64 21 to Krajicek, hopefully she can hold serve and take the top seed out the draw ^^

Okay, nevermind. Vaidisova is out in three sets to Krajicek. :wacko:

I guess that leaves No 7 open for Serena if she can take the title. =P

whoop! vaidisova is out :P

she broke back to level it 2-2 in the final set, but only held serve once more, losing 46 64 63 to Krajicek!

Top Seed out, hopefully no more seeds to fall today!

Come On SERENA AND LI !!!!!

crap, vaidisova is my fantasy team :angry: looks like another transfer is on the cards :rolleyes: roflmao

And now Serena has just retired, trailing Chan 3-5. Possibly a flare-up of the knee complaint she had in Miami, although I haven't read anything about it yet. I'm hoping she'll still be able to play Berlin, and seriously hoping it's not something that will sideline her for weeks or months yet again.

Remind me not to prognosticate rankings anymore, since I apparently ensured both women would suffer first-round exits. :doh: What was already a somewhat soft field is looking like a very good opportunity for Venus, Peer and Ivanovic to come away with a Tier I title I'd say. And there's still room for a surprise finalist or champion I'd think.

This title has Sybille Bammer's name all over it!! :P Or Venus' :P

i still think that if Li takes down Venus in the QF, she also has a very good chance of winning the title...

The titles is pretty much anyones...