Hier ist es.

15 of the Top 20 present and accounted for including 8 of the Top 10, with Sharapova and of course Clijsters out of action. Serena has also withdrawn, unluckily. Zvonareva and surprisingly Amelia Island titlist Golovin are missing as well.

Projected R16:
===
Henin v Li
Hantuchova v Jankovic
-
Kuznetsova / Bammer v Peer
Dementieva (Santangelo? Garbin?) v Petrova
--
Vaidisova v Ivanovic
Schnyder v Hingis (not many all-Swiss encounters are there?)
-
Safina v Chakvetadze
Srebotnik / Pennetta v Mauresmo
===

Disappointing to see Jankovic and Henin in the same quarter, although certainly the Serb will be looking for some timely revenge. The winner of that is slated to meet defending champion Petrova, but it's unlikely the Russian will make it that far especially given her unimpressive Warsaw exit. It's more likely to be Peer, who is something of a nemesis for Kuznetsova and has had solid clay results before.

Another former champion, Mauresmo, will be making her first appearance since February; she has got a relatively favourable quarter--she's beaten both Safina and Chakvetadze three straight times each in the past year--and neither Srebotnik nor Pennetta have been impressive lately, so it's a good opportunity for her to play herself into the draw. Her last two outings involved a title run and a finalist finish, so she'll be looking to recover that form.

We haven't seen Hingis (who is also a former winner here) for a while, and with luck the time off was good for her, after a strong start to the year that seemed to wane. Ideally I'd like to see her reach the semis for a rematch against Mauresmo. They had a dramatic three-set QF last year that ran over two days, and given that she hasn't defeated the Frenchwoman since her comeback, which has evened their H2H at 7-all, not to mention her history of less than complimentary remarks about her, it has the potential to be an intriguing encounter. Like Mauresmo she should be able to handle the seeds in her quarter (beating Vaidisova in Rome not long before the Czech made her surprise RG run), so it can happen.

Oh, I wonder what will happen here :yawn:

Seriously though, Berlin is Justine's fortress, more so than RG perhaps. Difficult to see her losing here. She had a shock loss last year to Petrova, that won't happen two years in a row.

Jankovic has the best chance though imo :)

Im eagerly awaiting the Hingis/Mauresmo match should it happen, hopefully Martina can get some revenge :D

hingis v. amelie on the clay would be special..although on form, you have to think that hingis is the weak link in the henin/kuzzy - hingis/mauresmo semis...

regardless of tomorrow's outcome, at this point you always have to fancy henin's chances on this surface.

Another Henin v Jankovic match!

Henin's actually playing Jankovic more than Kuznetsova at the moment! They will be getting bored of each other!

Jankovic probably has the best chance to beat Henin here though she has a potentially tricky draw - Rezai or Medina G and then Hantuchova or probably since this is clay, Peng.

Henin also has it tough with Zheng and Li Na lurking.

The other quarter is a real minefield. Kuznetsova is going to have a tough time first off against Bammer & then will have to beat Peer for the first time before a quarter with Petrova or the winner of Santengelo v Dementieva which is a nasty 1st round for Elena. Don't count Garbin out either considering Petrova & Dementieva's poor form. Petrova won here last year but off the back of a confident building win streak not an poor ealy exit - i'd be surprised if she even came close to defending her title.

While the safe bet in the top half would be for the winner of Henin v Jankovic to get through to the final it's much harder to pick a winner from the bottom half.

Normally i'd go for Mauresmo but she seems to be increasingly convincing herself she's poor on clay (rather than just RG) in the same manner as Clijsters and is just back from surgery. She's never been one to come back strongly immediately so an early exit wouldn't shock me but she does have a very kind draw until the quarters at least.

Picking her potential QF opponent is tricky however - Safina is seeded to make it but who knows with her and Chakvetadze & Safarova are both in her section. Any of these three could make it through.

In the other quarter Hingis has a nice draw surrounded by qualifyers and the weay off form Patty Schnyder so should make it to the QF's without too much trouble.

But hard to tell who'll she'll play. We know Vaidisova can perform on clay but she's not been that impressive of late and she has a difficult first match against the winner of Schiavone v Bondarenko. However if she can get through that i'd favour her against Ivanovic on clay.

However whoever comes through the bottom half I can't see any of them beating Justine in the final if she makes it there.

Potential semis

Henin/Jankovic v Peer/Kuznetsova
Hingis v Mauremso/Chakvetadze/Safina

Another clay title for Justine I'd presume, interesting to see how Hingis does, if she's still slumping, or if Dementieva will continue to improve, but the winner should be either Justine or Jelenka :)

Was a bit dissappointed by chakvetadze..earlier on.... But this being Justine's play ground.... I'll stick my neck out for Justine....

Never fancied Jelena much of a clay courter..but I guess her work rate compensates quite well.... but on clay any of the other girls could be a potential heartbreaker...

hingis to regain form at berlin :clap: ...take out mauresmo in the semis :pray: :pray: ...and subsequently tank 4&3 to henin in the final :yikes: :yikes:

Where are V and S btw?

Didn't you hear that Serena withdrew from Berlin? :(

Vee never entered Berlin or Rome :shrug:

i thought it was compulsory. i really need to vivit the wta website more often :rolleyes:

Yeah, Venus took a pass on both Tier Is in order to 'defend' her 2005 title at a Tier III. B) A shame really since I think she's done well enough on clay so far to suggest she could have made inroads on the draw at either event. She has at least defended her points from last season pre-RG, repeating as a quarterfinalist at Warsaw and her Charleston semi replacing in essence her Rome semi of last year, and stands to pick up some more in Istanbul.

Serena is still slated to play in Rome, and I hope she will, to give us some indication of where she is on the surface in advance of RG. Not that Hobart was any reliable harbinger of her AO run, granted.

In other draw news, Vaidisova has pulled out and will be replaced by Garbin, making that quarter even more favourable for Hingis I would think. Ivanovic remains as her only main competition there, and I'd like to see them face off in a QF; their last two encounters came in Tier I finals, including earlier this year in Tokyo, and with one win apiece no matter which woman pulled out ahead in their H2H there would be established a nice mini-rivalry in the making I'd think. Of course, both Hingis and Ivanovic have been vulnerable to lesser opponents lately and perhaps Garbin and Warsaw finalist Bondarenko (locked at one set all against Schiavone when the rains came) shouldn't be counted out just yet.

Meanwhile both Srebotnik and Pennetta have unsurprisingly fallen at the first hurdle, which should really give Mauresmo a free pass to the QFs. Chakvetadze isn't looking so convincing either, and faces a tough next opponent in Estoril semifinalist Safarova (who frankly hasn't looked convincing herself, falling tamely to Azarenka there and needing three sets to see off qualifier Savchuk yesterday). Safina hasn't played since reaching the Charleston final, but if she can hit the ground running and pick up where she left off I'd have to favour her to reach the quarters against either. Spaniard Dominguez Lino has been in-form on the clay so far and will pose a stiff opening round challenge, however. That section is really up in the air.