WTA Amelia Island- Tier II

[Drummond]

The draw:

http://www.blchamps.com/pages/comp/drawsheets/2008/wsdraw.pdf

No Ivanovic, and in fact a pretty weak draw other than Sharapova who is the top seed. Being a Tier II it allows players to gain some significant ranking points and considering the strength of the field, there is an oppertunity for a few players to go deep and move their way up the rankings.

Watch out for youngster Sorana Cirstea. She has Mattek in the first round and if she wins she'll face Mauresmo who dropped just the 5 games against Savchuk. Caroline Wozniacki is on track to face the 10th seed Alona Bondarenko in the second round and could go on to face Sharapova in the Quarters which would be interesting.

Australia's Casey Dellacqua's up and down season continues as she lost in the first round to Qualifier Melinda Czink. Very disappointing result as she is better than that.

Fox Sports will televise the Semi Finals and the Final.

 

[PHX]

The bottom half of the draw is very nice for a roughie to make it to the final.

Not so much the top.

 

[Drummond]

The bottom half of the draw is very nice for a roughie to make it to the final.

Not so much the top.

And Bartoli, the #4 seed, is out. Not like that's much of a surprise though.

Cirstea won today and will now face Mauresmo. Always a tough ask but I think she's ready to cause a major upset.

Having only recently returned from a knee injury, Azarenka won in tough 3 sets against Errani and will now face fellow youngster Dominika Cibulkova.

 

[PHX]

#3 Hantuchova gone now too. No surprise there either, losing to a qualifier.

 

[Drummond]

Cirstea lost to Mauresmo, 4-6, 1-6. Considering she was up 4-1 in the first set, that's a disappointing loss. Despite just taking one game in the second set it went for 43 minutes so I'm assuming the scoreline doesn't reflect the whole story. She's got a lot of talent but is already building up a case of being a bit of a choker.

Wozniacki lost to Bondarenko in 3 sets, Cibulkova upset Azarenka and will now face Chakvetadze while Safarova suffered a shock loss.

Radwanska's my tip to take the title but first she must first get past Mauresmo.

 

[Drummond]

How well am I doing? Whoever I want/predict to win manages to lose.

My tip for the title, Radwanska, lost to Mauresmo in a 3rd set tiebreak. Hopefully this isn't a sign of a resurgence from Mauresmo as I must admit I was enjoying her being beaten on a regular basis.

In a huge upset Dominika Cibulkova beat the second seed Anna Chakvetadze. I guess it’s not that much of a surprise given the Russians form this year. Cibulkova now faces Mauresmo.

It took until the 3rd set tiebreak for Sharapova to finally get the better of Medina Garrigues. She will now face Alona Bondarenko. Young gun Alize Cornet is through to the Quarters and this is just the start of what should be a very successful clay season for the young Frenchwoman.

Quarter Finals:

Sharapova v Bondarenko
Davenport v Szavey

Cornet v Razzano
Mauresmo v Cibulkova

 

[Drummond]

Cibulkova sure is making an impression. Straight sets win over Mauresmo and chances are she'll be seeded when it comes to the French Open. Cornet is so good on clay it wouldn’t surprise me to see her go deep at Roland Garros.

Semi Finals:

A. Cornet Vs. D. Cibulkova

M.Sharapova Vs. L. Davenport

TV Coverage:

13th: Amelia Island SF, 12:00pm FS3
14th: Amelia Island Final, 9am FS3​

 

[Rick18]

Cibulkova sure is making an impression.

Not wrong there Drummond

 

[ashley12]

Well, if one thing came out of Casey Dellacqua's golden run at the Aussie Open, I can now get her footy tips in the West Australian on a Friday.

Her loss in the first round was dissapointing, and she needs to be making constant 3rd round/quarters etc... to minimise the effect the next Aussie Open has to her points, unless of course she can do it all again

A lot of quality young girls coming through the ranks. Take that comment as you will.

 

[Drummond]

Well, if one thing came out of Casey Dellacqua's golden run at the Aussie Open, I can now get her footy tips in the West Australian on a Friday.

Her loss in the first round was dissapointing, and she needs to be making constant 3rd round/quarters etc... to minimise the effect the next Aussie Open has to her points, unless of course she can do it all again

Hit the nail on the head there. She’ll struggle to match her 4th round effort at next year's Australian Open, so she needs to pick up a few points this year. She also made the 4th round at Indian Wells so there are two major tournaments she’ll have a tough time defending her points.

But in saying that she’s also suffered a few early exists this year so there’s a few chances to pick up points.

A lot of quality young girls coming through the ranks. Take that comment as you will.

Both looks and game I take it.

Not wrong there Drummond

I rarely am.

 

[ashley12]

Both looks and game I take it.

CLEVER!!!!!!!!

 

[Drummond]

Well Davenport was forced to withdraw from her game against Sharapova due to illness. In the other semi, the match which was televised today, Cibulkova beat Cornet in three tough sets. She got off to a hot start, mainly due to the fact Cornet was nervous and wasn’t getting much into the court. But as Cornet settled she got on top and I thought she would go on to take the match. However Cibulkova responded in the third and managed to win through to face Sharapova in the final. Cornet is the better player, well at least she will be in a year or two. She needs to improve her backhand though as she doesn’t really follow through on it, she kinds of just bunts it back.

Both of their games are suited to the clay and both should fare well at the French Open. Cibulkova is a more defensive minded player who gets everything back whereas Cornet is a little more aggressive and in time will prove to be a very dangerous player.

Sharapova’s not overly flash on clay but I can’t see her losing tomorrow. And besides, this green clay is pretty fast and doesn’t play anything like the French Open so it's not a great indication of what's to come.

 

[amer]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/24B70B9A-D3E4-427D-8FE6-D75C23A4D513.htm

Sharapova wins first clay title

Maria Sharapova, world number four, won her first WTA claycourt title when she defeated Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova 7-6, 6-3 in the final of the Amelia Island Championships in Florida.

Sharapova became the first woman to win three titles this season following her successes at the Australian Open and Qatar Open, improving her 2008 win-loss record to 22-1.

The Russian suffered her only defeat this season against compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semi-finals at Indian Wells.

Sharapova admitted winning the title had given her a major boost ahead of next month's claycourt grand slam at Roland Garros, even though the green clay in Florida plays faster than the red dirt used in France.

"Considering that I don't play so much on clay and that last year I only played one event going into the French Open, this is definitely a big plus," Sharapova, the top seed, said.

To be expected. Can’t see her winning the French Open though.