Finally, Jelena has been handed a pretty good draw for Los Angeles where she last year performed in great fashion to make the semi-finals. She really needs to defend these points or otherwise her ranking will slip even further but so long as she is happy and hitting the ball well, then defending these points doesn’t really matter! This year she has been situated in the top quarter meaning a possible quarterfinal with the number 1 seed, Kim Clijsters, could eventuate. First up, on the other hand, is are two players who have performed very well throughout 2003 but are two players Dokic has also beaten this year as well:

• Magui Serna: as most of you would know, Dokic came back from behind to defeat Serna 2-6 6-2 6-3 last week at San Diego as well as beating her comfortably 7-5 6-2 earlier in the year so if they should meet, expect another Jelena win!

 

• Svetlana Kuznetsova: this up-and-coming Russian hits the ball with a lot of power and pace and recently made the semifinals at the Acura Classic last week. She is also an experienced doubles player so will be looking to come to the net a lot. However, Dokic defeated her at Miami earlier in the year on the U.S. hardcourts 7-6 6-1 so it is very important for her to win the first set or she could be in real danger.

As for the 3^rd round, it is high likely that she will play Farina Elia, who turned around her dismal start to the year when she won Strasbourg, made the 3^rd round at Roland Garros and the QF of Wimbledon. She will probably be high on confidence then but has not entered a hardcourt tournament yet and so Dokic will have the advantage if the meet. As is evident, Jelena has a pretty safe ride to the quarterfinals if she can play like she played last week because she nearly beat a top10 player for the first time in months if not a year! If she can at least make the QF by defeating these players, then she would have defeated higher-ranked players than those she beat last year (Pisnik, Husarova, Grande) en-route to the semifinals.

Quarterfinals? Can she do it?

Kim Clijsters is the number 1 seed here at Los Angeles and it would be no surprise if she titled here again? However, can Jelena step up her game to beat Clijsters and save her ranking? She lost miserably to her earlier in the year 6-2 6-0 but six months later is a completely different story to the way Jelena has been playing in the past few weeks so it is really up to Jelena’s mental state that will decide who will be the victory as we all know she has the game to beat her!

Nevertheless, there could be an upset along the way for Clijsters by the new Russian sensation in Maria Sharapova, who has defeated the likes of Dokic, Myskina and Navratilova over the past few months. Her return of serves is absolutely incredible, and is demonstrated by her high-pitched grunt that is attached to her shots. With all of these things, she could indeed face Jelena in the quarterfinals. Dokic unfortunately received a bad line call at 5-4, Sharapova serving for the first set, at Wimbledon that gave Maria a set point. Jelena ended up losing the match 6-4 6-4 but there is no telling what could have happened has the correct call been made. Still, Dokic was able to handle Sharapova’s power, style of game and grunt to nearly defeat her so if they were to meet in the shiny sun at LA, then expect another thriller with lots of winners and unforced errors.

Funnily enough, tennis fans all over the world could see another Martinez-Dokic encounter or last year’s semifinal match between Dokic and Rubin. Conchita has been hitting the ball pretty well but lost early last week to Mary Pierce in her 2^nd round match that doesn’t inspire much confidence about her level of play. Her and Jelena are pretty close in the rankings so if they met in the SF, expect Dokic to power her way through the match. Rubin, on the other hand, has a lot of points to defend after defeating Dokic and Davenport to win the title. As a result, she will probably fall early to someone like Schiavone who has nothing to lose and the game to defeat higher-ranked players, which she demonstrated in 2002 by defeating Clijsters and Seles at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia. So again, a really good draw up to the semifinals if Clijsters falls in the earlier rounds or better yet, Jelena demolishes her!

Final? One Step Further?

Who knows which player will make the final from the second half of the draw but it will probably be Sugiyama or Davenport. Lindsay made the semifinals at San Diego last week but has a recurring foot injury that could force her to withdraw from the tournament or lose early. Sugiyama is another dangerous player and could meet Davenport if they were to meet in the semifinals and has in fact beaten Lindsay earlier this year in Scottsdale.

Either way, making the quarterfinals will be a huge step and anything on from there will be a bonus!

Predictions:

2^nd Round: Dokic d. Kuznetsova in 2 sets.

3^rd round: Dokic d. Farina Elia in 3 sets.

QF: Clijsters d. Dokic in 2 sets.

VAMOS JELENA, VAMOS!