Here is the draw for this week's tournament in New Haven.

DAVENPORT Lindsay USA (1)
BYE

GOLOVIN Tatiana FRA
(Q) PESCHKE Kveta CZE

LLAGOSTERA VIVES Nuria ESP
HANTUCHOVA Daniela SVK

RAYMOND Lisa USA (WC)
SCHNYDER Patty SUI (6)

PETROVA Nadia RUS (5)
BYE

MALEEVA Magdalena BUL
(Q) JACKSON Jamea USA

(LL) KIRILENKO Maria RUS
FARINA ELIA Silvia ITA

CHAKVETADZE Anna RUS
JANKOVIC Jelena SCG (10)

MOLIK Alicia AUS (7) (WC)
DULKO Gisela ARG

MEDINA GARRIGUES Anabel ESP
RAZZANO Virginie FRA

DOUCHEVINA Vera RUS
(Q) PENG Shuai CHN

BYE
DEMENTIEVA Elena RUS (4)

DECHY Nathalie FRA (9)
SHAUGHNESSY Meghann USA WC

(Q) KOSTANIC Jelena CRO
GROENEFELD Anna-Lena GER

BARTOLI Marion FRA
LIKHOVTSEVA Elena RUS

BYE
MAURESMO Amelie FRA (2)

It should be Lindsay's for the taking if she is indeed recovered from her back injury the way she says it is. Mauresmo did another choke job with Henin at the Roger's so I don't think she will beat Davenport on hard courts, assuming both were to meet in the final.

Footnote: Myskina and Kuznetsova withdrew.

The most interesting entry in the draw is Alicia Molik who is finally back after all these months.

Molik already lost, according to ESPN, unfortunately. It looked like she was going to have a great year, before she took ill.

You're right. I hadn't even checked for scores because I'm so used to tournaments starting on Monday. Dulko took her out 6-4 6-2. Gisela's a pretty tough first match back after so many months away. I wonder of Alicia will ever be able to recapture the form she found toward the end of last year.

It is odd that they started today. I wasn't expecting it. I guess because it's a mens/womens event.

I hope Lindsay can put on a show, and stay healthy.

If Lindsay gets to the final, she will recapture the #1 ranking that she's losing today/tomorrow, making Maria the shortest-reigning #1 in history. Maria's #1 ranking will be the bazillionth time that the top player will not have any slam championships among her points.

The year-end #1 is still totally up for grabs, with at least 8 players with a fighting chance. Hell, even Mary Pierce, if she could somehow win this tournament, could be a factor year-end (and certainly for player of the year!).

But back to the Pilot Pen, it sucks about Molik. Don't forget that Maleeva is also back after a long layoff! Other than the top two seeds, the most interesting players to watch, form-wise, are Hantuchova, Schnyder, and Shuai Peng (Dementieva better watch out for that one).

Fun tourney, hopefully the men will help give it some attention and provide a fun ending for the apparently successful US Open Series (helps that so many Americans were in finals...)!

Not exactly a huge field...i'm glad kim is off to rest...this us open is hers for the taking...is LD going to be healthy enough to play her best? that is the question of the week, because if she's 100%, she needs to play like there's no tomorrow...just win one more big one and call it a day...jhh will be a huge threat at the us open, the way she played against amelie during the first set tells me that if she can peak late in the second week, look out...

I thought Justine played terribly all week in Toronto, personally, which I know is hard to back up when she made the final. But the match against Vaidisova was atrocious. The semi with Amelie was her best match of the week for sure, but still not the greatest.

I hope to see Amelie do well this week and build up a little confidence by being more aggressive. She was way too defensive in the key moments of her match against Justine but she won the second set by moving forward. She'll need to do that at the Open as well.

Peng and Jankovic are out. Those were two names I expected to see move at least past the first round. I'm not putting much into Peng's win over Clijsters a couple weeks ago. These up and coming players have their 'upset' wins but they are raw and don't have the consistency yet to back it up afterward. But, she is definitely someone to look out for in the future, as in Jankovic.

I think this is exactly the case with Peng. She has obvious talent, but is not ready for primetime yet. I think she is suffering from the dreaded letdown after her win against Clijsters. She may very well be a top player some day, but for now she needs to play at a consistently high level to really break through. If she consistently played the way she did against Clijsters, she would definitely be top ten.

Lindsay rolled in her first match back, quickly ousting Peschke. If Lindsay is truly recovered from her back injury I can't see a player beating her at New Haven. I'm confused though because I've heard different things about what Lindsay has to do to get #1 back. What I do know is that because Sharapova is #1 this week she will be seeded #1 at the US Open. I heard one person say Lindsay has to make the semis of New Haven to have enough points to reclaim #1 and another say she has to make the finals to reclaim #1. So, Maria could be seeded #1 based on this weeks results but Lindsay be the #1 player DURING the Open. I also heard someone say that new rankings aren't released until after the US Open, but someone else told me that they are released during the week of the Open. So if thats the case than Lindsay will take over during the second Monday of the Open. THEN...depending on their results at the Open, Maria could overtake Davenport if she gets further than last year at the Open. Davenport made the semis so even if Davenport defends those points Maria could have enough if she gets to the quarters or semis herself. Davenport is scheduled to play for 2 straight weeks after the Open so we could have a see saw going on for a minute. Interesting though how I haven't read any stories mentioning the fact that Davenport could reclaim #1 by winning New Haven this week.

LD could reclaim #1 by winning this week but I very much doubt new rankings will be released before the end of the open. They don't release new rankings during the middle of a grand slam. Maria lost to Pierce in the third rd of the US Open last year and LD went deep so there's no assurance LD will have it back by the end of the US Open. A seesaw might very well be up and coming...I hope Pierce is healthy for the US Open; she'll be such a dangerous opponent for that top eight.

They will release rankings on Monday as usual. They don't release new rankings in the middle of a major, but they do on the first day. Seedings are already set of course.

Lindsay needs 152 points at the Pilot Pen to catch Maria. She got 59 for making the quarters and gets 99 points + bonus points (35 for Schnyder, 23 for Hantuchova), if she wins her QF match, so making the semis will be sufficient.

Of course, it makes no difference if you're seeded #1 or #2 anyway. This year I'm not sure it makes much difference if you're seed is 1 or 8. You could be #1 and still have to face Venus Williams, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters just to make the final.

Edited to add: Whoops...botched the calculation. The 99 points includes 55 points for making the quarters, so Lindsay will gain only 138 if she beats Schnyder or 126 for Hantuchova. In other words, she does need to make the final. However, at the beginning of the tournament, the SF might have been sufficient--beating Golovin & Schnyder would have gained enough bonus points.

[ August 24, 2005, 03:01 AM: Message edited by: JC ]

exactly JC...I know I wouldn't want want to be a round of 16/quarter opponent of Mary Pierce or Venus. I'm sure Kim is happy she more than likely won't have to face Lindsay til the final. But yes, Henin, Venus, Pierce are dangerous opponents lurking. For Lindsay...#1 seems to have been more of a slam curse. Her being ranked #2 can't hurt. I also think there's less pressure on her. She didn't sweep through the summer hard courts last year and is not the favorite going in this year. Kim is the overwhelming favorite but I still expect her to "mess it up" at some point. Venus, Davenport, and Clijsters I'm rooting for. I'd like Venus to win just for her to prove to the haters that Wimbledon wasn't a fluke, which even if she doesn't win the Open, it still wasn't a fluke. But ya know...some people feel that it was. For Davenport she's gotten so close over the past year and it would be nice to see her win one more before retiring. For Kim she's been so deserving and she's so nice...nothing really bad you can say about the girl. If she can just gather her emotions it would be nice to see her break through.

I don't think Wimby was a fluke for Venus, but I also don't think that she's "back" from the past couple years. She played one hell of a tournament, but she's still not playing enough, and she still has the same technical issues with her game that she had before her win. It's funny how in this day and age, one thing, either a win or a loss, immediately has long term indications in so many people's minds, when really sometimes it is one isolated event.

Good to see Hantuchova beat Schnyder. Schnyder had a 7-3 edge before today. I remember that tough 3 set 3rd round match last year at the US Open, Hantuchova had a bit of a meltdown, she started to cry a little bit. Nothing along the lines of a Zvonereva Chernobyl meltdown, but a meltdown just the same.

Hantuchova's having a good summer. I'd love to see her in the top 5, and to win a slam, I just don't think she's there yet.

Amen, brother Ben.

Venus, more so than anyone else on tour, is an enigma. Honestly ... her play, compared to her results earlier this year, was a HUGE fluke. Meh ... screw the Williams talk, we need to have a Williams section of the Tennis board.

As for New Haven ... Hantuchova exercised a major demon by ousting Petty Patty today. Dani was up 6-4 against Patty at the Open last year and she just gave the points away to Patty by taking her foot off of the gas.

Me-Sha had to come back to reality with the loss to Groenefeld. I just wish that she would do something with her backhand, *shrug*. Forehand, very solid, GREAT serve ... but her backhand is ass and will always be ass until she can hit the ball flat.

Nick

Mauresmo posted an easy with over Likhotseva last night and will play Groenfeld today. That's an interesting matchup, not only because Groenfeld is an up-and-comer but also because Amelie and and Anna-Lena are seeded to meet in the third round of the US Open.

US Open draw out today and looks as though LD has a GREAT draw on paper.

Kimmy, the Willies in one half of the draw.

Yesterday after the Gimmelstob/Gonzalez match, there was extra time and Cliff, Patrick, and Mary Joe discussed the upcoming Open. Mary Joe mentioned Elena Dementieva and said that she had fixed her serve ... not so many double faults and actually able to hit it to more than one spot in the service box. So I'm in turn surprised to see Dementieva upset today by Medina Garrigues in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.

Perhaps it's a day-to-day thing for Elena.

About Elena's serve. Besides a high double fault rate, I don't see it as as much of a liability as it appears on the surface. I know speed-wise it is attackable, but I have rarely seen anyone be able to outright attack it because of the spin. Think back to Capriati, I think it was last year. She was pissed with herself because she felt like she should be putting those balls away, but they stay so low, and slide away from you, or right into your body, like no one else's on tour. I think that actually makes it a bit effective. (did I just say Elena's serve is effective?) Couple that with her great speed, and her ability to hit a shot on the run, and she's really not in that bad a shape serving.

I think Elena's inability to move the serve around the box is as much a liablity as the lack of velocity. It's coming in at a low speed - if it comes over the net at all - and in the same place consistently. The top players should be sitting on the shot, ready to punish it. But it's easy to overhit those shots, especially the players who have the power to just punish it for an outright winner. But then if you baby the return back in play, Dementieva has killer groundstrokes. It's a fine line to walk and can be really, really frustrating. I think her opponents get to a place where they don't know what the hell to do! So, in that way, yeah ... Dementieva's serve can be effective. lol.

:cool:

Is Hantuchova a machine? The girl has been pratically playing non-stop from Wimbledon.
She played a lower tier tournament, then Stanford, San Diego, LA, Toronto, and now Pilot Pen.

She is going to fall off at the US Open. Thats way too much tennis. She had that break through win at Indian Wells against Hingis a few years ago and was touted as being one of the up and comers who would be top 5 and then she just fell off. With the kind of players on tour now she really missed her window of opportunity. I'm glad though that she didn't just go away after Lindsay blazed her 6-2 in the first set. She was down 4-5 and broke to get back to 5-5 and actually had a set point at 6-5. Lindsay was able to hold and won the tiebreak. I just think Daniela has played too much.

Nice win for Mauresmo, 6-3, 6-2 over Groenfeld. Huzzah! :cool:

Dementieva's serve really is something. I remember last year at the Open against Capriati that Capriati absolutely got flustered by it. She didn't know whether to stand back or stand close to the service line. The serve was just so slow and short in the box. Capriati knew she would slice the serve into her forehand, but still was so unsure of herself.

Jennifer Capriati should be ASHAMED that she lost to Dementieva in that semifinal last year. How a player would let Dementieva get away with that serve is beyond me, and its even more ridiculous to think that this is a top 10 player WITH THAT SERVE!! To her credit though...once the ball is in play her groundstrokes are FIYAH!!!! So I mean I guess that balances it out but there's no way that Capriati should have lost that match.

I think Jen has long operated on the theory that she doesn't need to go for huge winners on return of serve because she expects to win most of the long rallies. I've always felt she and Clijsters play a similar game, and both players sometimes lose matches because they don't take big chances. I think that's partly why Capriati won her slams on the slower surfaces.

I agree, JC. Although Kim is serving quite well this summer, and seems more aware of how important it is to hit winners, and hit them first. Big Babe Tennis right now is first strike tennis: you've got to go for it before the other one does. Kim and Jen have always been so great off the ground; it's taken time and some big losses for them to realize they need to go for it. Hantocova (sp?) played a good second set against a wobbly LD today but LD's mental game was too strong. I think LD loves not being the all out favorite going into the US Open, and really, just imagine her face if she won one more slam. I would love to see that. Sort of like Venus after she won Wimby:unbridled joy.

OH
MY
GOD.

I watched some of Mauresmo vs. Medina Garrigues while at lunch. It is mind-numblingly awful. Amelie is playing like crap; she's so far behind the baseline that she's practically at the wall and Medina-Garrigues is the one taking control of points when the opportunity presents itself. I read a quote from Amelie after her quarterfinal win where she said, "My game is much better when I'm coming forward." Which is true. So why she's being so passive against a player that she should dominate from every part of the court, I can't figure out.

Mauresmo is down a set and a break, 4-6, 3-4. She's had 10 break points in the second set and failed to convert on any of them. If she doesn't fix something quick, Medina Garrigues will be in the final of the Pilot Pen.

Get this out of your system now, Amelie. Please! It won't get'cha far at the US Open.

This match is killing me. Mauresmo is playing so passively. She is not taking control of any points against a player who is not agressive or hitting big. I am just so disappointed in her play. She is not gonna win a major playing like this. Ugh, I wish it hadn't gone to a third set, they've been playing for hours now. I don't know what Mauresmo's deal is, this match should have been a straight set victory, instead Mauresmo is making it a 3 set marathon.

Yeah, I'm watching the third set, and this is just ugly. Amelie is playing way too defensively. Half the time it's looking like she's just pushing or spinning the ball back into the court. It looks like Amelie will win the match, but this certainly doesn't bode well for the Open.

So Mauresmo pulls it out 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. She better step it up in the final.

[ August 26, 2005, 01:49 PM: Message edited by: Neptune ]

Hopefully, Mauresmo will come off the court and use this as a learning experience for what NOT to do in the final tomorrow and at the Open. It could just be one of those days. She pulled it out. That's what counts. Although, man, what a stinker!

That Mauresmo match was a HOT MESS!!! Does she think she's at the French Open? All that moonballing and high bouncing stuff. She is playing clay court tennis on a hard court and once she comes up against the likes of a Davenport, Clijsters, Williams, Sharapova she is going to go down hard.

Not the best match, for sure, but as Mary Jo Fernandez said, sometimes it's good to know you can win when you're not playing your best. Medina Garrigues took ridiculously long amounts of time between points. For once, I agreed with Brad Gilbert about the umpire, she should have come down much harder than she did on her.

Am I wrong for finding Brad Gilbert damn annoying?

No you aren't wrong for finding Gilbert annoying. He truly is. I can't believe that a coach of his caliber is commentating and not coaching someone. But yes...he gets on my nerves. I still am wondering what REALLY happened between he and Andy (I have my own theory). You don't dump a coach like Gilbert out of the blue like that. Andy had some good results when Brad took over and hasn't played as well since parting ways with him.

[ August 26, 2005, 05:38 PM: Message edited by: ltskinmdterp ]

Good win for Linds as she reclaims #1!!! Maria had it a whole 7 days. I'm taking my nephew and godson to Arthur Ashe Kids Day tomorrow. Blake and Davenport were to be the featured players but I guess they won't be there as they are both playing tomorrow. Guess all my booty watching will have to go toward Roddick.

Wow, so LD's going to step back onto the court after several weeks off, sore back, etc., and notch another tournament win. Excellent. She's playing her way quickly into form and will hopefully peak at the right moment.

I think Venus is extremely motivated...at the slams. She'll be a serious contender...I'm looking forward to her and Kimmie slugging it out...

GO LINDSAY!
GO LINDSAY!
GO LINDSAY!

I was worried there during the second set with the Russian teen whose name I won't even begin to type. Linsday looked like she was really struggling, and I was worried that maybe her back may have been acting up again. Was very relieved to see her move on. Go Davenport!

Quick report from Flushing:

Su-Wei Hseih has some good power off both wings & could cause some trouble depending on her draw.

Milagros Sequera is my favorite player but she looked sluggish and unwilling to try to match Hseih's power (even though she has ever shot it the book). Still, a graceful player and popular with tour types.

Danai Udomchoke v. Arnaud Clement was definitely the match of the day. People were huddled together, standing on anything they could, to get a glimpse of the 3rd set. After bageling Clement in the first set, Danai lost the second like 7-5. In the third, he was down a break at 2-4, the broke back, then they held to 5-5. Udomchoke then broke for 6-5 but then had a mediocre service game. After a long point that made it 15-40 or 30-40, Udomchoke CALLED FOR THE TRAINER! The crowd went nuts. Udomchoke got a back massage, went on to save his break point(s) but ultimately got broken and Clement won the tiebreak relatively easily. CRAZY.

Vania King got through, after a devastatingly long final game v. Gallovits. I mean, the girl's only 16 so it's tough to really blame her, but she had something like 6 match points that she just completely choked away. She was also up a break in the 2nd set, and choked that away. But considering she was a WILDCARD into the qualifying draw, after weirdly being passed over by the USTA for the main draw, it was a tremendous accomplishment and she was definitely psyched.

I'm going again Monday night & Tuesday day, so hopefully I'll finally get to see Andre live. That would rule.

Overall, I loved the experience & now want to go to qualifying for every major. The dramatic tension was so great partly due to the fact that all the players are around the same level, and few of them are guaranteed a life on tour, so they're scraping & clawing with every fiber of their being. Devastating to watch but awesome, too, if you like tennis.

Congratulations to Lindsay Davenport for her straight set victory over Mauresmo this morning. She was really struggling with a capital "S" in the first set, but was much more consistent and focused in the second set. For Ameli, yet another tough battle with another loss for Davenport. The thing I don't like about her, is her lack of fire, and emotion. She just very rarely shows any emotion. In fact I would compare her to a female version of Pete Sampras. Some say that may be good for her, but I like some emotion, fist pumping, maybe a little anger, even muttering as in Lindsays' case. This should really help Lindsay going into the US Open. Go Lindsay!!

[ August 27, 2005, 11:55 AM: Message edited by: puckman1 ]

I don't know about Mauresmo. Watching her play, it seems her best chance for a major is at Wimbledon, where those spins and the variety of her game can be used to the best advantage.

But she plays so passively, it seems. Yesterday and today most recently. I wonder why she doesn't just commit to attacking each and every time. Not foolishly, of course, but still trying to play more angles and to get to net. It's riskier, but also puts more pressure on her opponents. Against the hitters (Lindsay, Kim, Serena, Venus) Amelie seems to be just waiting. While she might beat one of them because they don't play as well that day, she won't win majors waiting for them all to fail.

Maybe it's as simple as showing more emotion. It worked for Gaby when she tried it. Coincidently she began attacking a lot more also, rather than clay court high topspin waiting it out. That put her at the net, taking advantage of her great hands. And forced her opponents to try to do more than just groove the reply back.

Lindsay looks like she's in a good position. Not there yet. And with Lindsay she can be there and still not believe in herself (Aussie final against Serena). But today was very promising. It's hard to call a favorite. But I think Lindsay would be my pick for the Open.

I think that, in today's game, net approaching ... while a nice surprise, really isn't a valid method with which to consistently attack.

Most elite players hit the ball so hard that, unless someone has a huge game which can keep someone from stepping up and hitting the ball, you're going to be going hitting some awkward volleys because players are able to hit a ball hard, ESPECIALLY when they don't have to think about it because their opponent is giving them a wide open target.

Furthermore, if you have a huge game to keep your opponents on the defensive ... a game that is going to be condusive for hitting volleys, you're going to be more than content to use your huge game on the baseline all of the time ... instead of trying to finish points at the net. Serena back in 2002 was a perfect example of this ... she really could have attacked the net more ... her huge serve was great for it, but she could put the ball away on the baseline most of the time, so why risk mucking up a volley at the net.

With Amelie, she has the funky slices and spins, but it seems like ... once she gets passed a few times, she loses interest in playing an attacking net game. (See the 3rd set of the Toronto semifinal against Double H.)

HOWEVER, I think that Navratilova once said that you have to expect to get passed quite a bit, but you need to suck it up and stay true to that game. Gosh ... I can't remember the exact quote, but she said that if she wasn't being passed 20-25 times during a match, she wasn't attacking the net enough. *shrug* Basically ... Amélie, harness your inner aggressivity! ALLEZ!

Nick

That's basically what I'm getting at. She's not winning the majors anyway. She's not consistent in beating any of the top players anyway. It's risky to attack the net. And I didn't mean all the time, by any means. More as a means of being more aggressive. Amelie plays not to lose, it seems, rather than to win. She can't just slug it out from the baseline and expect to win. She has ability to control the court in different ways, but must commit to doing so. Even if she gets passed a lot. Even if she loses. She loses now as is. At this stage in her career, seems like she'd be willing to force herself.

Sure, you're going to get passed a lot. But honestly, I'd be curious to see how many matches Amelie has played where she's won less than 50% of the points when she's gone to the net. Very few would be my guess.

Yes, the power from the baseline is intimidating, but the women players don't hit that many passing shots and I do think they can be pressured into making mistakes. I can't help thinking of Nathalie Tauziat getting to the finals of Wimbledon a few years back. Granted, the field was not as tough, but Tauziat was nowhere near as gifted as Amelie. Amelie has a bigger serve and bigger groundstrokes than Nathalie, so she should get easier vollies to handle.

Remember a few years ago at Wimbledon, where Mauresmo beat Capriati in the quarters. During that match Mauresmo served and volleyed and came to net whenever she could. That tactic totally caught Capriati off guard and Mauresmo won handily. Now it's harder to attack consistently on hardcourts, but she could certainly do it more. I feel like it is the only way she is going to really compete on the big stage against the top players. Sure she is going to get passed some, but it is also hard for her opponents to keep coming up with great passing shots, particularly at crucial points of the match. That match at Wimbledon actually reminded me of Gaby back in the day. She changed her tactics and became more aggressive and it lead to her first major title. I really thought that Amelie would follow the same path, but she just doesn't seem to want to be nearly as aggressive on any other surface but grass. It's a shame because she is too good to not win a major someday.

Yes, but we all agree that Amelie lacks nothing in her shots..she can do it all. But she doesn't go for the kill the way champions do; she tends to falter and that's mental. I remember when Rafter was playing and everyone knew that he'd be charging the net virtually always, the stat was that you expect to get passed 50% of the time but that doesn't stop you from playing your game. Martina's got another great insight which is that you never win on your first match point. Ever since I read that a couple of years ago, I've noticed how often it's true...I'm not sure that Amelie can learn the killer instinct at this point in her career. Great champions get sharper when the chips are down...need i mention Seles, one of the greatest pressure players of all time pre-stabbing...