With a new doubles partner for
this week US tournament and a strong will to perform well
in doubles, Jelena will start her first doubles tournament
on US hard courts after the Wimbledon later today.
For this week, after few months of successful playing with
Nadia Petrova of Russia, Jelena decided that it will be
good for her to play with a new doubles partner this week.
Her name is Meghann Shaughnessy, a tennis player that is
well known to Jelena, mostly cause Jelena has a history
playing with her in the past. And as so far, it was not
that great experience.
Their doubles opponents for today, Russian's Elena
Likhovtseva with career-high in doubles (as of Nov. 17,
2002): No. 4 (Aug. 27-Sept. 9, 2001; Nov. 5, 2001-May 12,
2002) and with 17 doubles titles under her belt, and Cara
Black with career-high in doubles (as of Nov. 17, 2002):
No. 3 (Nov. 5, 2001-May 12, 2002) with 11 doubles titles
under her belt, is a doubles team that should and must be
respected. Those two illustrious names put together in the
same sentence just seem to roll off the tongue. A doubles
team that has few titles playing together under their
belts, with the last one coming from Hobart earlier this
year, but also a doubles team that was a runner up at last
two Season-Ending Championships, and a runner up at US
Open three years ago is a doubles team that doesn't need
anyone to convince in their quality, the statistics speaks
for themself.
T
his
contest is perhaps the most interesting contest of the day
in doubles part of the tournament.
Jelena and Meghann are tremendous hard court players, and
they know what it takes to win a doubles match. Jelena
with her offensive weapons can limit Elena's and Cara's
ability to set up and execute their shots in the rally,
while Meghann with her big serve and net play can also make
a damage to Elena and Cara.
But on the other hand, the question is how well Jelena and
Maghan can respond in the match and how well can they
play, since they haven't been playing together for a long
time, and are not that familiar with each other's game.
So, the question is, how well can they react the pressure
and how well can they match their games on the court.
Jelena and Meghann must force Likhovtseva and Cara to
become impatient with all shots and skills they can use.
Elena will probably try to use her offensive flat
groundstrokes to control the rally. Her consistency has
improved, which is elevating her ranking. She's a tall
girl with a penetrating serve, and that is something that
is very important in both singles and doubles. Elena is an
excellent doubles player and is always looking to come
forward to the net.
On the other hand, Cara plays with confidence, she looks
to set up her forehand while protecting her backhand. It's
interesting to look for her to gain an edge with her
left-handed serve.
My Pick: Elena Likhovtseva and Cara Black in 2 sets but
they must play aggressive. I say 6-4, 6-3.
Please, feel free to enter our chat room during the match.
