by Glyn James...

This week, Jelena plays for a stake of $1,224,000 in the Family Circle Cup, Charlseton - a tournament with an extremely bright history and a field full of top quality players, including world number one, Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles, and Serena Williams.  It is a well respected Tier I tournament, which will be played, like last week at Amelia Island, outdoors on the green clay, however, again like last week, it's rumoured that rain could well interupt play, but let's not worry too much about that at the moment.

The tournament has achieved many things in its history.  It was the first tournament to break the $100,000 prize money barrier, the first women's tournament to be aired on National Network Television, the first recipient of the WTA Tour Tournament Achievement Award, and the first tournament with continued title sponsorship for thirty years.
Coverage of the event will be shown on Eurosport, aswell as ESPN, and you should definitely get a chance to catch Jelena since both networks are showing coverage from the last sixteen, right up until the Final.

Every Jelena fan must be thinking, "Why did she eat so much cake?" or alternatively, "Has Jelena's stomach virus cleared up yet?"  It's apparent that the stomach virus wasn't at all a long lasting thing, and that it should definitely have cleared up by the time Jelena plays against either Greta Arn (GERMANY) or Anna Smashnova (ISRAEL).  Should Jelena get through, she is likely to play Francesca Schiavone (ITALY) before finally coming up against a seed, and no, not the type of seed you'd find in an apple or an orange :-), but rather a seed in the shape of Meghannn Shaughnessy (USA) or Amanda Coetzer (REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA)in the quarter finals.  In the event of Jelena reaching the semi finals, there is likely to be a sense of revenge in the air.  Should Jelena face Anne Kremmer (LUXEMBURG), Jelena would no doubt be fired up to get revenge for the three times that she's lost to Kremmer earlier in the season, however, the more likely semi final opponent would be Monica Seles (USA).  It's rumoured that Seles is still injured, but I've found no confirmation of this, and she still appears to be in the draw.  Seles will be keen to get revenge on Jelena after Jelena beat her for the first time ever in their previous meeting.  The winner of that would then undoubtedly go on to face either Serena Williams, or defending champion Jennifer Capriati.
Incidentally, after this tournament, Jelena would then most likely return home to celebrate her 19th birthday with friends and family.

PREDICTION - Capriati def. Seles 7-5 6-2
            Seles def. Dokic 7-6 6-4