Well the draw is out and is absurdly top heavy!

Mauresmo, JHH, Hingis, Kuznetsova & Dementieva all in the top half!

The contenders for the title are

Justine Henin-Hardenne - Has to be the favourite - she's three time defending champion & has only lost one match here and that was a retirement against Capriati in the 2001 semis. Her list of scalps at the tournament is very impressive - Venus, Capriati, Serena, Amelie, Kim, Sharapova, Schynder & Petrova.

However she has a pretty tricky draw - potential match against Kirilenko in the 3rd round shouldn't be too bad but then Kuznetsova in the QF's, Mauresmo in the semis & probably Petrova in the final.

Schynder may have ended her clay winning streak recently but on red clay Justine has only lost one match since the beginning of 2003. If she plays anything like she did at the Fed Cup she should win this.

Amelie Mauresmo - Has won this tournament twice before (she and Henin have dominated for the last five years) and loves clay but has looked a little shaky recently after her excellent early season form especially that bad loss to Schiavone in Fed Cup. Her draw is ok, perhaps Chakvetadze (who impressed in Warsaw) in the 3rd round then Dementieva/Pennetta/Hingis in the QFs & then that rematch with Henin in the semis.

Nadia Petrova - considering the weakness of her half of the draw she should coast to the final. She was runner up last year so she plays well here. Could have a tricky opener against the winner of Dulko/Zvonereva but after that her quarter is pretty light on good clay courters & she should be able to beat Schynder or Groenefeld or Ivanovic in the semis.

Svetlana Kuznetsova - looking great in Warsaw but then she's reached the finals there for the last three years & not done much in Berlin. Nasty draw with Henin in the quarters but we saw last year that she can push Henin very close on clay. However she's been in great form all year & Henin has beaten her relatively comfortably twice. If she can beat Henin then she can definitely go all the way.

Other contenders -

Hingis - Will be interesting to see how she responds to that terrible loss aginst Venus. She has a horrible draw (Pennetta in the 1st round) & would probably have to beat Mauresmo, Dementieva, Henin & Petrova to win here which I really can't see her doing.

Schynder - Apart from Charleston she hasn't done too much this year - May face the returning Suarez in her first round which could be tricky and then a potential rematch with Ivanovic in the QFs. I can't see her winning it but she is in the weaker half of the draw so could go far.

Dementieva - Outside of RG 04 & last years Fed Cup her record on red clay is nothing special - her run in Warsaw is probably her best performance outside of the aforementioned events. Has a win/loss record here of 5-5 and even for her it seems improbable that she can turn that around suddenly especially as she is in the much tougher half of the draw.

I'd say Henin, Mauresmo & Kuznetsova are the most likely to win here unless they wear themselves out which would allow someone from the cake walk bottom half to come through and win this. If so that would probably be Petrova.

WB, you could have at least credited GS2 for this excellent analysis ;)

Sorry, I forgot.

I would like to credit GS2 for this excellent analysis. Thanks GS2!

Thanks WB! I was about to copy this myself when I realised you already had.

Glad you liked it enough to nick anyway ;)

id like Makiri to win

Can't see her beating Henin in the 3rd round somehow

Results so far

Santangelo bt Lisicki 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
Kirilenko bt Vinci 6-4, 6-3
Peschke bt Vesnina 6-4, 6-3
Kremer bt Lisjak 6-0, 7-6
Bammer bt Krajicek 6-3, 6-2 (bit of a surprise maybe Krajicek doesn't like clay?)
Smashnova bt Bychkova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
Chakvetadze bt Benesova 6-1, 6-3 (looks to be maintaining her form)
And as I thought Razzano bt Sugiyama 6-1, 4-6, 6-2

And Dulko is a set up against Zvonerava

Go Kirilenko!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Krajicek hates clay :ok:

Shame for Ai, she had a good opportunity to go far in her section of the draw...

Im not particularly a fan of Krajicek anyomore, she seems to be staying at that 50 ranking a bit too long

Well, she doesn't like clay too much, so this will be a difficult time for her. However, she loves grass, and could possibly make the 4th round at Wimbledon...

Her movement is a bit too lumpy for clay, needs a faster surface that allows her to dictate play and clay doesnt give her the time to do that. I feel she would have to improve her movement dramatically for her to thrive on clay at the highest level.

Sugiyama's a strange one on clay, at times she can play well on the surface, but at times its just really kind of defensive and a little too passive. Sugiyama has an all-court game which doesnt nessecarily work on clay.

Today's Order of play -

Steffi Graf Stadium (from 11.30hrs)
1. Laine vs. Schruff
2. Dechy vs. Zheng
3. N.Li vs. Ivanovic
4. Müller vs. Craybas
5. Pennetta vs. Hingis (NB 17.30hrs)

Court 1 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Kloesel vs. Castaño
2. Likhovtseva vs. Pous Tio
3. Brémond/Cohen-Aloro vs. Safina/Vinci
4. Black/Dechy vs. Chakvetadze/Vesnina

Court 2 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Srebotnik vs. Jankovic
2. Daniilidou vs. Koukalova
3. Ani vs. Suárez
4. Benesova/Krajicek vs. Srebotnik/Woehr

Court 3 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Jans/Jugic-Salkic vs. Rodionova/Vanc
2. Panova vs. Medina Garrigues
3. Dushevina/Voskoboeva vs. T.Li/Sun
4. Tu/Zvonareva vs. Daniilidou/Medina Garrigues

Court 4 (from 12.00hrs)
1. Vakulenko vs. Domachowska
2. Dulko/Kirilenko vs. Klemenschits/Klemenschits
3. Garbin/Santangelo vs. Kloesel/Woerle


Interesting matches -

Dechy v Zheng - Clay is not Dechy's surface & Zheng just won Estoril so could be an upset.

Ivanovic vs Li - Ivanovic is still inconsistent & Li just made the final of Estoril so could be tricky (as long as Li is fully recovered)

Pennetta vs Hingis - Martina will want to play well after her disaster against Venus but Pennetta is a solid player on clay & beat her at the Gold Coast.

Jankovic vs Srebotnik - Will Jelena's horrible slump continue. She likes clay and has a lot of points on the line (made the semis here last year) but Srebotnik is a decent player.

Suarez vs Ani - Good to see Suarez back, if she's in any kind of form she should win this.

Oh and it was good to see Zvonerava win a match yesterday against Dulko. She plays Petrova next and she does like clay so that could be an interesting match if good Vera turns up!

Another disaster for Jankovic!

Leading 6-1, 3-0 she then lost to Srebotnik

1-6, 6-3, 6-2!

Jelena :wacko:

I wish they'd roll the big names out early, the first few days are so tedious I find...

:angry: Why can't Eurosport show the matches longer, instead of showing some bloody world cup legends thing :angry:

I hate it when it does that. It did it for the Dementieva-Radwanska match, i wasnt a happy boy

Jelena :wacko:

It's sad to see a player suffer like this, though I'm not really a fan of her game...

I quite like her game actually, fairly basic in terms of gameplan but i feel she's fairly compact. Safe serve, nice angled forehand, great movement and a backhand that can increase or take off pace. Shame we've hardly seen that this year, with the complete meltdown she's had. Now she'll lose all her semi points and will probably be out of the top 40 pretty soon.

Order of Play for today

Steffi Graf Stadium (from 11.00hrs)
1. Groenfeld vs. Castaño
2. Zvonareva vs. Petrova (NB 12.30hrs)
3. Mauresmo vs. Dushevina
4. Henin-Hardenne vs. Santangelo
5. Ani vs. Schnyder

Court 1 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Vakulenko vs. Dementieva
2. Müller vs. Kuznetsova
3. Hingis vs. Schruff
4. Hantuchova vs. Srebotnik
5. Bachmann/Henke vs. Dushevina/Voskoboeva

Court 2 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Peschke vs. Safina
2. Koukalova vs. Kirilenko
3. Razzano vs. Smashnova
4. Black/Dechy vs. Groenfeld/Petrova

Court 3 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Vierin vs. N.Li
2. Chakvetadze vs. Medina Garrigues
3. Huber/Likhovtseva vs. Safina/Vinci

Court 4 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Pous Tio vs. Bammer
2. Zheng vs. Kremer


Not exactly an exciting group of matches - the top seeds shouldn't be unduly troubled. The most interesting looks to be Zvonerava v Petrova but that depends what kind of form Vera is in.

Did Juju win? :blink:

Yes 6-4, 6-1. Struggled a bit in the 1st set but was much more impressive in the second.

Kirilenko is next

I see Vera managed to push Nadia in the 2nd set - were there signs of her returning to form?

(I haven't seen any of the matches due to school :angry: )

What time do you finish schools on Wednesdays? Here, we finish at 12:20, though I have a free hour, so 11:20 :blink:

I finish school at 3:35, every day, but I don't get home until about 4:45 (my bus is annoyingly slow...).

Schnyder is about to serve for the first set at 5-1 against Ani.

3:35? Lucky lad! We finish at 4:45 :yikes: And get home like at 5:20...

I suppose your teacher allows you on this forum whilst in class then? :rolleyes:

:bigwave: :bigwave: :bigwave: :bigwave: :bigwave: :bigwave: :bigwave:

But of course! :bow: :bow: :bow:

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Steffi Graf Stadium (from 11.30hrs)
1. Hingis vs. Dementieva
2. Henin-Hardenne vs. Kirilenko
3. Zheng vs. Petrova (NB 15.00hrs)
4. Mauresmo vs. Chakvetadze
5. Bammer vs. Kuznetsova

Court 1 (from 11.30hrs)
1. Castaño vs. N.Li
2. Hantuchova vs. Safina
3. Smashnova vs. Schnyder
4. Castaño/Craybas vs. Hantuchova/Sugiyama
5. Yan/Zheng vs. Garbin/Santangelo

Court 2 (from 12.00hrs)
1. Rodionova/Vanc vs. Daniilidou/Medina Garrigues
2. Dementieva/Pennetta vs. Salerni/Stewart (after suitable rest)
3. Dulko/Kirilenko vs. Benesova/Krajicek (after suitable rest)


Starting off with the big match on centre

Considering Dementieva has never lost to Hingis she should win this in straight sets.

Henin-Hardenne versus Kirilenko could be interesting (I don't believe they've met before) but Justine should take it in straight sets.

Petrova & Kuznetsova should both win pretty comfortably though Zheng is playing well at the moment.

Mauresmo should have too much for Chakvetadze despite her strong form recently.

Safina had looked good and could upset Hantuchova (to be fair Safina is probably the stronger of the two on clay) & Schynder should be able to handle Smashnova. Castano v Li - I have no idea!

Forget that - Justine has played Kirilenko before. At Berlin last year and she won in 3 sets! Kirilenko is probably a better player now than then but Justine was all over the place in the early rounds of Berlin last year - struggling a lot with the bad weather so i'd still expect her to win it in 2 this time.

And she has 6-1 6-0 :o

Petrova is having a bit of a stuggle - won the first set 7-6 but Zheng is currently serving for the second at 5-4.

Apparently Zheng had the first set in her hands too...

Who knows which way that'll go then

Martina won, so the day is good :) :)

Excellent win for Martina :D

Can't give any review though, as school prevents me from seeing the matches :huh:

I see Nadia squeezed past Zheng, 6-4 in the 3rd.

3-3 in the first set between Mauresmo and Chakvetadze...

Yes Venus is on the banner! roflmao

Mrtina was superb today, just played a total classy game. She knew exactly how to play Dementieva on a clay-court, which is to bring her in with the dropshot and either pass her or lob her, and quite frankly it worked like a dream. Martina in full flow is just awe-inspiring at times, hitting such great angles so close to the lines and generally just doing the basics and more very very well. Go martina! :D

Mauresmo is coming through comfortably at the moment, so i guess we are going to see a Hingis-mauresmo quarter. Will be very intresting. I think when it comes to clay court pedigree, they are both very evenly matched. It will surely be a battle of skill tomorrow rather than a battle of wills, especially on Hingis's part, who is so focused and buisness-like at the moment. Will be very intruiging to see how this pans out.

Also have to put a special mention to Zheng who lost to Petrova today. She really impressed me today and showed me that she could potentially be one to watch at RG as she was in 2004. She was hitting the ball superbly at times and was really compact and gutsy. Still well done to Petrova also, who really put it together when she needed to.

The girls are looking good for RG at the moment..... :ok:

GSM Mauresmo, 6-4 6-2. :)

Steffi Graf Stadium (from 11.30hrs)
1. Safina vs. Petrova
2. N.Li vs. Schnyder
3. Henin-Hardenne vs. Kuznetsova
4. Safina/Vinci vs. Dushevina/Voskoboeva
5. Mauresmo vs. Hingis (NB 17.30hrs)

Court 1 (from 11.30hrs)
1. Dementieva/Pennetta vs. Hantuchova/Sugiyama
2. Yan/Zheng vs. Daniilidou/Medina Garrigues
3. Benesova/Krajicek vs. Groenefeld/Petrova

Quarter Final Predictions

Safina v Petrova
Safina has moved quitely through the draw in good form and is decent on clay (she won Prague last year) & Petrova looked a little shaky yesterday so there could be an upset. Safina though tends to be unpredictable - she makes her brother look reliable! I'll give this to Petrova but it could be tight.

Li v Schnyder
Li has made the most of her luck with Ivanovic pulling out and was impressive yesterday but really Schynder is a different class and should win this comfortably.

Henin-Hardenne v Kuznetsova
Intriguing match up - last year they played too of the best matches of the whole clay season so hopefully we'll get another good match. Kuznetsova is capable of pushing Henin but despite her good form this year Justine has dealt with her comfortably both times they've played. Henin is clearly in good form - only dropping 6 games in two matches and should take this.

Mauresmo v Hingis
Match up of the round. Mauresmo struggled initially yesterday but then pulled through easily whereas Hingis looked very impressive against Dementieva. However Amelie is a much better player on red clay than Elena and won't want to let this one go. Their H2H on clay is 2-2 but Amelie won the last two including their only meeting here. I'm going to go for Mauresmo in 3s.