June 21st, 2008
Eastbourne, England and 's-HERTOGENBOSCH, The Netherlands
The final stops on the WTA Tour before the third Grand Slam of the season, Wimbledon arrives happened this week in Englad and the Netherlands. It has been a quiet past two weeks with almost all of the big, well known names pulling out or deciding to stay at home before Wimbledon. The only name that was present in the top 5 the past two weeks was Svetlana Kuznetsova in Eastbourne, but she bowed out early and easily in the tournament.
At the Ordina Open, Safina seemed poised to win. She was on a confidence high after reaching the finals of Roland Garros two weeks ago, but there was one tour veteran who had something to say about all this, Tamarine Tanasugarn. A few years ago, Tanasugarn was playing amazing tennis and was reaching deep into tournaments, however she has been lacking the last few years and her ranking has dropped. But with the win, she should get confidence again, defeating Safina in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3. For Safina, this is a setback. Everything was on the plate in front of her so that she could win, however she faltered and the end result was her losing a final that she should have won. This shouldn't bother her too much as Wimbledon approaches, but for Tanasugarn, it should give a much needed surge in her confidence.
At the International Women's Open in Eastbourne, the finals were being contested between an up and coming Polish player and a Russian woman who years ago was in the Top 5. The unique thing in this final was that niether player had reached a grass court final before. The two women were fighting tooth and nail, displaying their aggressive all court games. The tournament which has been won by Justine Henin the last two years was up for grabs. The two had only met once before, at this years Australian Open, where Radwanska came back from near defeat to beat Petrova. Today, it was just as exciting. Radwanska started the match well, winning the first set 6-4. However, Petrova would not be let down, fighting hard in the second set to take it in a tiebreak, 7-6(11). The third set was much like the first, Radwanska winning with a 6-4 scoreline. The Polish girl is now 4-0 in WTA Tour Finals and should look forward to having a good Wimbledon. For Petrova, she too should have confidence heading towards the next slam.
Next week, Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the year begins. Who will win? Ana Ivanovic has a weak draw to get to the Semi-Finals. Serena Williams must go through a possible encounter with Amelie Mauresmo, then Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the Semi's. The other half features Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, Jelena Jankovic and Maria Sharapova. It should be an exciting next 2 weeks and I'll be here writing about results every day!
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