It's impressive.

In fact, with five of the Top 10 present, this Tier II has three more than Tier I Charleston did. :P

The champion from that event, Jankovic, is seeded fourth and looking to continue her good clay results so far. Defending champion Clijsters has deigned to show up, and really I have no idea what to expect of her, but she does introduce an element of novelty and unpredictability. Meanwhile No 1 Henin is also making her first appearance in the clay season, and has to be considered a heavy favourite on her best surface unless she is slow to discover form; still, given that after a long layoff at the start of the year she still managed SF, W, W, F in her first events back, she is unquestionably dangerous.

Of course Venus will be in the mix--this was memorably her first event since the AO last year, where she had to hit the ground running in rekindling her rivalry with Hingis, coming out on top there but ultimately falling in the QFs (to Kuznetsova I believe it was, last year's finalist who has also returned). But she has a potentially tricky opening match against Krajicek, who had a good run in Charleston. Dementieva will be playing her first event since pulling out of Indian Wells, and wanting to make up for lost ground that saw her drop out of the Top 10 in the interim. Lastly, home favourites and rising prospects the Radwanska sisters will hope to make an impact on their turf.

===
Projected QFs:

Henin v Petrova (!)
Jankovic v Chakvetadze
--
Dementieva/Venus (Krajicek?) v Kuznetsova
Clijsters v Srebotnik/Bondarenko/A. Radwanska
===
It's hard to see how it will all shape up, especially the bottom half.

Darn it, i knew Petrova would end up in Justines 1/4 :angry: mind you, if she has any ideas about winning RG, a win over Henin here would put her in good stead

Decent field - though very top heavy. Outside the top 7 and Venus it's nothing special - Though Krajicek & Radwanska could make an impact I suppose.

Top half looks pretty straightforward with Henin v Petrova & Jankovic v Chakvetadze looking the likely QF's. Though Anna is having a few problems with Jill Craybas at the moment!! Currently on serve Craybas leading 6-5.

Bottom half harder to predict Kuznetsova should come through but could face Venus, Dementieva or even Krajicek. I'd favour Venus to make it though.

Clijsters also looks like she'll make the quarters easy but not sure if she'll face Srebotnik, Bondarenko or Radwanska. Radwanska has home advantage so I reckon she can do it.

After that we should see a Svetlana v Kim match up here for the 3rd year in a row - top half probably Henin v Jankovic.

From a rival board...Poor Venus!

I don't think it's that bad really. Krajicek in the first round isn't fun but she's not at her best on red clay and neither is Dementieva who's also making her comeback from injury.

Drawing Petrova or Chakvetadze in the first round would surely have been worse!

I think Venus needs bigger names early on, she needs for her form to click early against the big names. Sometimes urgency can really boost your game, and Venus has the ability to do this. Drawing Krajieck is ok, a good youngster but mobility is such a factor on clay for the Dutchwoman and we all know what physical prowess Venus brings to a tennis court. Krajijecks only real ammunition is the serve, but at the best of times its 50/50 in terms of constructing enough variety on serve to cause problems. A good, sustained performance from Venus should do the trick :D

I'd love to see Venus vs Dementieva, would be a great indication of where both women are really. I love Venus in warsaw and hopefully her form will just build and build. Go venus :D :yahoo:

surely if henin makes the final, she won't have much problem with any of those names in the bottom half...

If Venus picks up where she left off in Charleston and continues to gain more consistency off the ground then I think she is more than capable of beating Clijsters and Kuzzy even if they do turn up.

I think Clijsters might put a bit of effort in here actually as defending champion and considering it's her last clay event.

Kuzzy's form hasn't exactly been stellar, but she still stand a good chance of going deep.

As ever in the last few years, Venus Williams is the unstable element in her side of the draw :D

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Centre Court (from 11.00hrs)
1. Dementieva vs. Tu
2. U.Radwanska vs. Vesnina
3. Pironkova vs. A.Radwanska
4. Krajicek vs. V.Williams

Court 1 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Garbin vs. Granville
2. Santangelo/Srebotnik vs. Jans/Rosolska (NB 13.00hrs)
3. Likhovtseva vs. Vakulenko
4. A.Bondarenko/K.Bondarenko vs. Groenefeld/U.Radwanska

Court 4 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Kanepi vs. Groenefeld
2. K.Bondarenko vs. Paszek

TBA after suitable rest (NB 13.30hrs)
1. Craybas/Granville vs. Pastikova/Sromova
2. Brémond/Klepac vs. Tu/Voskoboeva

Pretty decent line up for the second day of a Tier 2 - Both Radwanska's in action to keep the home fans happy - both have pretty tricky matches however. Dementieva returns after her long injury break and is currently having a tough time against Tu but is serving for the first set at 6-5.

Venus v Krajicek is the highlight of the day but Venus should come out on top here.

Dementieva lost the first set to Tu on a tie break but is 2-0 up in the second.

There have been 11 breaks of serve so far :rolleyes:

And neither player has saved a break point as yet :huh:

You've gotta love Elena's matches roflmao

To add to the fun she won the 2nd set 6-0 but is now a break down in the third!!

Tu now serving for the match :rolleyes:

23 double faults in all so far :doh:

Elena breaks back - 5-5 in the third!

Dementieva wins 6-7, 6-0, 7-5!!

Venus will destroy her in the next round if she doesn't shape up.

Fingers crossed GS ;)

Really competitive match going on at the moment.

Radwanska took the first set 7-5 against Pironkova and has just held her serve at the beginning of the second set but it took 24 points to do it!!

Aga has a break in set two now, but it's still fiercely competitive!

......and then Tsetvana fell apart :wacko:

Elena won her usual three-set thriller I see roflmao

And Aga going well too :D

I was so sure Elena was going to lose at one point :lol:

Venus' match hasd been postponed to tomorrow now :(

Why? :(

I've been looking forward to it all day :angry:

Venus always seem to be the last to play!

groan :(

the Krajieck thrashing shall wait for tomorrow then ;)

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Centre Court (from 11.00hrs)
1. Santangelo vs. Petrova
2. Krajicek vs. V.Williams
3. A.Bondarenko vs. A.Radwanska
4. K.Bondarenko vs. Kuznetsova

Court 1 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Dekmeijere/Navratilova vs. Brozda/Kosinska
2. Garbin vs. Chakvetadze
3. Dushevina/Perebiynis vs. Chakvetadze/A.Radwanska (after suitable rest)

Court TBA (after suitable rest; NB 15.30hrs)
1. Gajdosova/Uhlirova vs. Garbin/Krajicek

Venus match was cancelled due to bad light yesterday but will be 2nd on today.

Weather sounds pretty bad in Warsaw, it was snowing yesterday apparently! Conditions supposed to be poor again today but improve from tomorrow onwards.

Petrova loses the first set 6-3 to Santangelo!

Damn Petrova making me wait longer to see Venus! :rolleyes:

Not too long Sw19, Petrova goes out 6-3, 6-3.

Very poor from her especially on clay where she looked so convincing last year.

Venus about to start.

Wow what a poor result :o

Venus takes the 1st set 64 :yahoo:

Nadia :yikes: :yikes: I knew i should have left her on my sig, ive cursed the poor girl now :(

Venus wins 64 63 :D

Fairly comfortable result, she was only broken once, early on; she got over half her serves in and won nerly 80% of them when she did.

Step it up a bit for a nice quick match in the next round against Dementieva :pray:

Venus :D :yahoo:

One of my fav events of the year, especially with Venus here :D Nice simple win, nothing too strenuous. Solid serving and no df's in the second set.

I always worry when Venus plays elena, but i hope the goddess will step things up ;)

Well at least Elena will make more DFs than Venus roflmao

I think Venus is becoming more confident each match though, it's very different to when she played here last year, hopefully Kuzzy revenge is on the cards :devil:

(6) Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) d. Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 62 62
Alona Bondarenko (UKR) d. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 06 64 63

Good comeback from Bondarenko and her sister has started very well against Kuznetsova - leading 5-1 at the moment!! Another upset?

Wow! I was so sure Aga would win that one :o

I still want Kuzzy to win though for the reason stated above :D

well she is currently 1-5 down in the first set against Bondarenko :doh:

I still dont know how Venus got to the quarters in Warsaw last year. Rusty as a steel-gate, got cramps. pure drama of course with Vee roflmao

She's really starting to flow with her game now. In patches, her match against jankovic in Charleston was some of the most intelligent tennis she's played on a clay-court. Now, the patches need to become sustained spells of brilliance :D

I want venus to beat kuzzy too. I hate this 2-2 H2H :rolleyes: roflmao

The Radwanska sisters must be so dissapointed this tourny. Urzsula blows 3 matchpoints against Vesnina in round 1, and Agnieska got beat after a blow-out of a first set. The latter especially must be dissapointed especially after her wonderful debut last year, beating myskina and pushing Elena D to the wire........

i just hope elena doesn't hand it to her.