Here's an entertaining page from the Ladies' tournament in Bol, Croatia: Their English is almost as good as my Croatian!

They're calling Majoli the favorite. Given that she'll have the support of the home crowd, and won't have to travel at all from her Federation Cup match this weekend.

Like the lame-o that I am, I will continue to root for Anna Kournikova in both this tournament and the following week in Poland. I guess I'm a sucker for divas.

I am crossing everything in the hopes that Anna puts in a good showing at this tournement. Please save face. Please save face. Please save face...

Incidentally, she and her agent insist those are not pictures of her in Penthouse and intend to pursue legal action.

ps> how weird is it for the tourney site to publish their predictions? but i do think Iva will do well here.

I finally found the main draw on this quirky site. After you change the site to English, you can click Results to get the main draw.

I think a semifinal between Montolio and Kremer will be interesting. I think the top half is tougher to call. Srebotnik and Maleeva could both spoil a Dementieva/Majoli semi. And I can't help but want Kournikova to have an impact, if she can get by Pisnik.

I wish Safin's lil sis was playing here as a wild card. I bet she'd put a dent in this draw.

Safina has only a few tournaments she can play because she's so young. Maybe she wants to play where her bro is for the most part? Or save them for the bigger tournaments, now that she knows she can swim with the medium-sized fish?

I honestly think Kournikova has a chance to get to the finals here. Wishful thinking, I know, but she's showing she's got her head on straight by playing at a smaller tournament and getting coaching advice fromt the outside. Pisnik's gonna be tough though. And Talaja is in her quarter - and is Croatian. Maleeva shouldn't be a big factor here.

Dementieva, meanwhile, could face Angelique Widjaja, the exciting young Indonesian (who has, as one tennis commentator pointed out, something Elena doesn't have: a title). Maja Matevzic could also give Dementieva some problems.

In any case, I think the only safe prediction is that while a Russian could make it to the finals, there's no way she'll win the title. It's clearly too great a task for women from that particular country. They lost to GERMANY! in Fed Cup. This is post-Graf Germany! Yeesh!

Curtj, you might want to check the draw again, or go to the one on the WTA site. Montolio & Kremer are scheduled to meet in the quarters, and the winner would face Majoli in the semis.

My prediction is for Majoli to win this thing over Kournikova, thereby vaulting herself up back to the Top 25 (she's at 33 right now). But as we know, Majoli is mercurial. She might not get past the first round (same with Kournikova, obviously). But it would be nice to see a Croatian win this.

Doh! I totally misread the draw sheet. I guess a semi between Montolio and Kremer would be extra interesting since I'm a twit and they would meet in the quarters.

[incidentally, i HATE those smilies so i must be exceptionally embarrased to resort to using them]

I think your calls are pretty good. There will be some really interesting match-ups at this tournement. Majoli was great a couple weeks ago, but she won't have it easy here. She'll have a tough semi regardless.

I love that you pick Anna for the finals. Nothing would make me happier, but I'll be relieved if she just makes it through a couple rounds.

I have to think Dementieva would really like to dig in and win this tourney. She's overdue. What's with these Russian girls? So much talent. So little mental toughness.

Anna! Woo! Way to overcome, baby! She goes down in a first-set tiebreak to a woman who had not won A SET in a main draw on the tour this year. She's on the verge of losing her SIXTH match in a row, but instead pulls it out 6-7 (3) 6-2 6-2. Next up for Miss K: seventh-seed Tina Pisnik. The Slovenian's future is bright - hopefully not too bright tomorrow, though.

Also in Bol, Angelique Widjaja DESTROYED Noorlander, 6-2 6-0. She's looking more & more like the real deal (she won a challenger in Dubai to automatically qualify for Bol). If she can pull that one out, she automatically becomes a threat to win the whole tournament.

YAAAAAY! Anna wins despite, ahem, 50 unforced errors. I will probably smile the rest of the day. Until I start thinking about her next round match against Pisnik and then I'll get nervous again. Go Anna!

She had a great comment in her post match press conference. Referring to the injury and recent defeats that put her to the 68th place in the world - down from No. 8 a year ago - she said: "It's not that I have to come back. I just have to start playing better."

I love how humble she is in the press. And I love that it's about the quality of her play, not her ranking.

Yah, Widjaja smacked Noorlander. Dementieva could have her hands full with that one.

Go Anna!

Good for Anna K. She got to the finals in Auckland, only to lose to Smashnova. She's smart to play these dinky tournaments in hopes of playing beyond the first round.

Dementieva, too, needs a title. Either one winning would be fine by me.

Well, Dementieva seemingly had no problems with Widjaja, sitting her down 6-2, 6-1. But I was more surprised to see Montolio go down to a qualifier, the 6th seed, Nagyova, lost to Garbin, and dark horse Bovina is out.

And while my jaw is still dropped, Srebotnik lost in straight sets to Zvonareva, the #3 junior.

That's three of the top seeds out. I hope the russian girls are paying attention and one of 'em grabs the opportunity.

[ May 01, 2002: Message edited by: curtj ]

Heavy sigh. Anna's out. After nearly skunking her oponent in the first set tie break, Pisnik won the next two at 6-3.

Kremer's also out. Majoli and Dementieva seem to be the remaining serious contenders, but I haven't called much right for this tourney so who knows.

Majoli should make the final, if she can get by Zvonareva. Has anyone seen this girl play? She was good in her other WTA events this year--10-2 so far, falling to Alexandera Stevenson in a third set tie-breaker in Memphis and to Majoli 7-5 in the third set in Miami. My pick is that the Majoli/Zvonareva winner will win in a final over Dementieva. I'm leaning to Majoli--she is a great clay-courter after all--but I don't really know anything about Zvonareva's game.

[ May 03, 2002: Message edited by: JC ]

Well, the site for this tourney is a bit dicey, but I think Majoli just won 6-2, 6-0. Dementieva lost in a long three set match so I figure Majoli will win over Garbin in the final.