Post by jimm on Oct 19, 2008 14:52:21 GMT
October 19, 2008
Youth and Experience Converge on Luxembourg
LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - Olympic champion Elena Dementieva heads a strong field at the Tier III FORTIS Luxembourg Championships this week. The world No.5 is joined at the $225,000 event by three more Top 15 stars, in the form of Anna Chakvetadze, Daniela Hantuchova and fast-rising Caroline Wozniacki. Former world No.1 Amélie Mauresmo is also present, along with a host of younger prospects. They include 14-year-old Laura Robson, the British teenager who won the Wimbledon junior girls' title in July and is making her debut on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
Although she failed in her attempt to defend her Kremlin Cup title at Moscow two weeks ago, Dementieva has had a golden year. As well as that career-defining Olympic medal, the 27-year-old Russian won the title at Dubai and reached the semis at both Wimbledon and the US Open, firmly re-establishing herself among the world's Top 5. Dementieva has already secured her place at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, now just two weeks away, and will be looking to further boost her stocks ahead of the season-ending showcase.
For Chakvetadze, the No.2 seed, and third seed Hantuchova, Luxembourg offers an opportunity to end the year on a high after troubled runs. Both have dipped out of the Top 10 in recent months, but Chakvetadze won the Paris Indoors event in February, and Hantuchova was a three-set runner-up to Ana Ivanovic here last year, so they certainly have the chops to deliver at the CK Sportscenter Kockelscheuer. Likewise Mauresmo has shown flashes of her old brilliance in recent weeks, and will be a dangerous fifth seed.
The remaining seeds are coming off some excellent results. A few weeks ago 18-year-old Wozniacki won her third title in four months at the AIG Japan Open, and with a ranking of No.15 is installed in Luxembourg's No.4 slot. Sixth seed Li Na, who twice this year has made admirable comebacks from injury, almost won a bronze medal for China at the Beijing Games and registered a win over Venus Williams at Stuttgart recently. No.7 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues made her first indoor semifinal at Zürich last week, while Romania's Sorana Cirstea, 18, made her Top 40 debut after winning her first Tour title at Tashkent and is seeded eighth.
Other talented youngsters in the line-up include Germany's Sabine Lisicki, who was runner-up to Cirstea at Tashkent, Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland and Belgian wildcard Yanina Wickmayer. But it is Robson, who impressed with her composure on and off the court at the Championships and has also been granted a wildcard at Luxembourg, who threatens to steal the early headlines.
Robson won her first senior match at the ITF Circuit event in Limoges last month, and backed that up by reaching the semis at Shrewsbury in England the following week. There, her victims included another former Wimbledon junior champion, Urszula Radwanska, and wily Israeli veteran Tzipora Obziler. With a Luxembourg entry ranking of No.550, Robson's first round opponent is fellow left-hander Iveta Benesova, a Top 50 player who will provide an honest gauge of her level.
Regardless of the result, Robson will break Annabel Croft's 26-year-old record as the youngest Brit to compete in a main draw of a Tour event. Croft, then 15 years, 11 months, won a round at Birmingham in 1982. At 14 years, nine months, Robson is also the seventh youngest player to debut since the start of the decade.
Youth and Experience Converge on Luxembourg
LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - Olympic champion Elena Dementieva heads a strong field at the Tier III FORTIS Luxembourg Championships this week. The world No.5 is joined at the $225,000 event by three more Top 15 stars, in the form of Anna Chakvetadze, Daniela Hantuchova and fast-rising Caroline Wozniacki. Former world No.1 Amélie Mauresmo is also present, along with a host of younger prospects. They include 14-year-old Laura Robson, the British teenager who won the Wimbledon junior girls' title in July and is making her debut on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
Although she failed in her attempt to defend her Kremlin Cup title at Moscow two weeks ago, Dementieva has had a golden year. As well as that career-defining Olympic medal, the 27-year-old Russian won the title at Dubai and reached the semis at both Wimbledon and the US Open, firmly re-establishing herself among the world's Top 5. Dementieva has already secured her place at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, now just two weeks away, and will be looking to further boost her stocks ahead of the season-ending showcase.
For Chakvetadze, the No.2 seed, and third seed Hantuchova, Luxembourg offers an opportunity to end the year on a high after troubled runs. Both have dipped out of the Top 10 in recent months, but Chakvetadze won the Paris Indoors event in February, and Hantuchova was a three-set runner-up to Ana Ivanovic here last year, so they certainly have the chops to deliver at the CK Sportscenter Kockelscheuer. Likewise Mauresmo has shown flashes of her old brilliance in recent weeks, and will be a dangerous fifth seed.
The remaining seeds are coming off some excellent results. A few weeks ago 18-year-old Wozniacki won her third title in four months at the AIG Japan Open, and with a ranking of No.15 is installed in Luxembourg's No.4 slot. Sixth seed Li Na, who twice this year has made admirable comebacks from injury, almost won a bronze medal for China at the Beijing Games and registered a win over Venus Williams at Stuttgart recently. No.7 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues made her first indoor semifinal at Zürich last week, while Romania's Sorana Cirstea, 18, made her Top 40 debut after winning her first Tour title at Tashkent and is seeded eighth.
Other talented youngsters in the line-up include Germany's Sabine Lisicki, who was runner-up to Cirstea at Tashkent, Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland and Belgian wildcard Yanina Wickmayer. But it is Robson, who impressed with her composure on and off the court at the Championships and has also been granted a wildcard at Luxembourg, who threatens to steal the early headlines.
Robson won her first senior match at the ITF Circuit event in Limoges last month, and backed that up by reaching the semis at Shrewsbury in England the following week. There, her victims included another former Wimbledon junior champion, Urszula Radwanska, and wily Israeli veteran Tzipora Obziler. With a Luxembourg entry ranking of No.550, Robson's first round opponent is fellow left-hander Iveta Benesova, a Top 50 player who will provide an honest gauge of her level.
Regardless of the result, Robson will break Annabel Croft's 26-year-old record as the youngest Brit to compete in a main draw of a Tour event. Croft, then 15 years, 11 months, won a round at Birmingham in 1982. At 14 years, nine months, Robson is also the seventh youngest player to debut since the start of the decade.