Article written by J.M.

Jelena really has been stepping up her game lately in the Tier 1 events. At the Nasdaq-100 event in Miami, she reached the quarterfinals, which gave a lot of hope to her fans. She then fell very early as the defending champion at Sarasota but stormed back again last week at the Tier 1 event at Charleston, reaching the quarterfinals before falling to world number 1, Serena Williams. This was a great tournament for her and she proved she is still a fighter when she came back from one set down to defeat Elena Dementieva, eventually winning 4-6 6-4 7-5. Hopefully she will be able to put in a similar performance this week when she heads over to Amelia Island.

Last year, Dokic made the semifinals here before retiring against Justine Henin in the semifinals, defeating the likes of Mary Pierce, Emmanuelle Gagliardi and Dementieva along the way. Will she be able to accomplish the same feat this year? The answer is simple: if she is mentally strong, then yes! Her draw is pretty good, with the exception of a possible quarterfinal showdown against Jennifer Capriati, but even she is not having the best year in 2003.

In the second round, Jelena will have to play one of the following people:

• Jennifer Hopkins: this American has only played one WTA event this year and that was last week at Sarasota, where she fell in a three set thriller against Maja Matevzik. Her best result this year was in a 25K Challenger event in Atlanta where she made the final. Jelena’s experience on clay should ensure a relatively easy factory for her.
• Tina Pisnik: this Slovenian girl has lost her last four matches in the opening round in three sets, three of them being on clay. In these occasions, she won the opening set but failed to capitalize each time by losing the next two. She has actually stretched Dokic on a couple of occasions on clay: at the French Open in 200, Dokic only just pulled through with a 3-6 7-6 6-4 win in the first round, and at Strasbourg last year, Jelena again won with a 6-4 6-1 scoreline. Hence, Jelena must be on her guard in this match to win in straight sets.

Again, in the 3^rd round, Dokic should have no problem. According to the seedings, she is supposed to play Lisa Raymond. However, it would be no surprise at all if she fell early to Amy Frazier or a qualifier. If Raymond did pull through, on the other hand, Jelena will probably win anyway, despite having lost to her earlier this year. The reason being because Raymond had only won two matches on clay in the entire clay court season of last year and it will probably happen this year as well, as clay is definitely not her favourite surface!

Now in the quarterfinals is where it gets interesting. Dokic will probably either have to play Capriati or Paola Suarez. Last week, Capriati pulled out of the Family Circle Cup at Charleston citing a throat infection. As a result of this, she is yet to play a match on clay and inexperience on it this season could work to Jelena’s advantage. Their head-to-head record on clay is as follows:

2 Berlin 2001 Capriati (3) d. Dokic 7-5 3-6 6-4

QF Roland Garros Capriati (1) d. Dokic (7) 6-4 4-6 6-1

Both their matches have been really tough and clay and Jelena has certainly put Capriati to the test! She certainly gave Jennifer a fright last year on the clay courts at the French Open when Dokic’s absolute brilliance allowed her to win the second set. However, with poor lighting and a loss of mental concentration, Capriati ran away with the third set and moved into the semifinals. Another thing to take into consideration is the fact that this time last year, Jelena was retiring in tournaments left right and center, and was losing in the early rounds of the big clay court tournaments in Berlin and Rome. Then all of a sudden, she comes out and makes the quarterfinals of her first grand slam of the year. Despite being unable to stretch the world’s top players as of yet, a win over Capriati would do a lot for her confidence and boost her back into the top 10.

However, as Capriati has not had any experience on clay this season, she could fall victim to clay court specialist and winner of the French Open Doubles title for the past two years in a row, Paola Suarez. Capriati was only just able to beat her on the hard courts at Linz so just imagine a match between them on clay! If Suarez and Dokic were to meet, Jelena will hopefully have learnt from her mistakes in her 1^st round loss to her a couple of weeks ago in Sarasota and win the match to move into the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Jelena could meet one of many players, including:

• Lindsay Davenport: seeded 2 here, she recently lost in the semifinals of Charleston last week and proved she can play on clay. Her power is restricted on clay and this could work to Jelena’s favour for sure!
• Conchita Martinez: this youthful veteran and former number 2 is rapidly improving in the rankings and will most likely be a top 20 player by the time the French Open finishes. She and Dokic have played each other on a number of occasions, including their three set thriller at the French Open last year. Dokic should win in three sets again if they were to meet.
• Patty Schnyder: proved how good a clay courter she was by making the finals of Charleston last year (defeating three top 10 players along the way) and the 4^th round of the French Open. Jelena has won all three of their meeting on clay so don’t be surprised if she repeats such form here at Amelia Island.

Supposing Jelena did make the final and defended her points from last year, her confidence would be booming and she would probably be able to beat any player from the top half of the draw, particularly Justine Henin-Hardenne, who is the top seed here. Hantuchova will probably be knocked out early and Dementieva could put in a surprise appearance in the semis or even finals. Hence, Dokic could win the tournament if she’s strong!

Predictions:

2^nd Round: Dokic d. Pisnik in straight sets

3^rd round: Dokic d. Qualifier in straight sets.

QF: Dokic d. Capriati in three sets