Article written by J.M.

Jelena unfortunately did not defend her title last week at Sarasota but this doesn’t necessarily mean that she won’t perform well at Charleston this week, which is a Tier 1 clay court event that could give her the opportunity to capitalize on lost points from last year’s early round defeat to Anna Pistolesi. She has a pretty tough draw ahead of her but if Jelena can fight for her matches and be more consistent, then it is hopeful she could progress through to the later rounds of the draw.

She is the number 6^th seed here and has therefore received a bye in the first round. This should giver some time to adjust to the courts at Charleston because seeing as though she lost early in singles and had to forfeit her doubles match as well (Nadia Petrova had sustained an injury) last week, she has not much practice on the clay courts. Her second round opponent could be either one of the following two players:

• Maja Matevzic: this Slovakian player would have met Jelena last week in Sarasota if Dokic had won her opening round match. She ended up playing a couple of tough early round matches there where she defeated Jennifer Hopkins and stretched clay-court specialist Paola Suarez, who upended Dokic in first round action. She therefore has had more experience on the clay courts but should pose no real threat to Jelena’s game.

• Qualifier: unknown yet.Now it is the 3^rd round where Jelena could face one of a couple of very tough opponents on clay, assuming she defeats her opponent in the second round. Such players include 

• Elena Bovina: most people would remember this player as the one responsible for ruining Jelena’s hopes at the US Open last year when she overpowered Dokic to win the match 6-3 6-3. However, I believe that one shot was the decisive factor in Bovina’s victory. At 5-3 30-30 and Bovina serving for the first set, Dokic missed a very easy crosscourt shot that went into the net that could have brought up break point and so Jelena should have rallied to win that set and subsequently the match. Nevertheless, her huge serve and solid ground strokes could cause Jelena some considerable trouble if they were to meet in the 3rd round, though power is not usually as effective on clay as on the hard courts, but is rather to do with consistency. Dokic must be at her peak to defeat her!

• Iroda Tulyagonova: This Uzbekistan player recently reached the semifinals of Sarasota last week and has a great chance of beating Bovina in the first round after defeating her at Miami two weeks ago in straight sets! The last time Jelena and Iroda played was in the semifinals of Linz 2001 where Dokic won 6-2 4-6 6-0. Expect a tight two setter, dependent upon how well Jelena is playing!

• Iva Majoli: very solid clay court player who has won the French Open and is the defending champion here! Confidence levels could be booming here and with a semifinal appearance last week at Sarasota, she could be a strong force. Dokic should just try and go for angles or down the line shots here, as Majoli isn’t very fit these days and can fatigue quite easily.
  
  Quarterfinals- LA Revenge?

In the concluding tournament of the 2002 season, Dokic led world number 1 and winner of three Grand Slams, Serena Williams, 4-1 but lost the match 7-6 6-0. Back then, however, she was supposedly carrying an injury and this could have been a vital factor in her loss. As clay is one of her favourite surfaces, however, Jelena will be keen to defeat the reigning Australian Open Champion here at Charleston and silence the critics regarding her recent performances this season. If Patty Schnyder did it last year, then why can’t Dokic? OF COURSE SHE CAN!

However, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if one of the following players became the 1^st person of 2003 to defeat S. Williams and move into the QF herself!:

• Anna Kournikova: despite have missed a lot of the season due to a recurring back problem, Kournikova has a good chance of matching Serena’s power. She plays a very similar game to Dokic’s except that her game is more prone to errors. Nonetheless, she nearly defeated Serena in Sydney 2002 and only a break of serve decided the match. The last time Jelena played Anna was in San Diego where Dokic saved two match points before prevailing with a 6-7 7-6 6-0 result! This would be a high quality match regardless of the victor due to both the player’s talent and looks.
   

• Conchita Martinez: after missing a lot of the 2001 season, Conchita had to fight back from a very low rank to now be placed in the top 25, after reaching the quarterfinals of a couple of events this year and reaching the semifinals of the lucrative Indian Wells event around a month ago. She was on fire last week when she defeated 4th seeded Ai Sugiyama at Sarasota, but fell short in her match against red-hot Alicia Molik in straight sets. After that defeat to the young Aussie, she credited her opponent’s efforts but felt like she did not play as well as she could have. Martinez has a good chance of defeating Serena as well in the 3rd round, mainly for the following reason: if Loit can stretch her on hard courts, then Conchita can beat her on clay! Dokic has won their last six matches nonetheless and expect this trend to continue if they were to meet, probably in a three setter, like their French Open marathon match.

Semifinals: (big points!)

Jelena will probably fall out of the top 10 if Anastasia Myskina wins Sarasota tomorrow, so reaching the semifinals here will probably boost her back into the top 10. Now as for possible opponents, these are likely to be Lindsay Davenport or Schnyder. Most people would know that Jelena is yet to defeat Davenport, despite being close several times. However, Dokic and Davenport have never met on clay in which Jelena would clearly have the upper hand in the match, as she is fitter than Lindsay and would be able to run down more shots than her opponent. Schnyder, on the other hand, is last year’s finalist here after defeating three top 10 players. She therefore has a lot of points to defend and will probably crack under the pressure if Jelena were to meet her.

Final???

It is really difficult in determining who could make the final of any tournament and for that reason, you should probably go by the seeds. In this instance, is Dokic was playing the tournament of her life and regained her levels of confidence, and made the final, she would probably have to play the following people:

1. Henin-Hardenne: seeded 2^nd, last year titled at Berlin, semifinalist at French Open 2001.
2. Jennifer Capriati: 2001 French Open Champion. Jelena has a great chance to defeat her on clay.
3. Anastasia Myskina: reached the final at Sarasota (final yet to be played) and could continue this form into Charleston where a “dream run” is yet again possible.

Predictions:

2^nd round: Dokic d. Matevzic in two sets.

3^rd round: Dokic d. Majoli in three sets