Article by Todd Spiker

--So-So, So Far... and now SoCal--

1 for me, 5 for Jelena.

As I reach my one year anniversary here at JD.com, what better way to mark the occasion than to have it coincide with Jelena's Drive for #5 finally becoming a reality this week?

As of July 29, The Drive is complete.  Now the real work begins, as Jelena strives to hold off a horde of challengers and finish her season ranked in the Top 10 for the second straight year.

Even with her new career-high ranking in hand, last week's performance in the North American hardcourt season-opening event in Stanford, at best, only contributed to the gnawing sense about the "running in place" state of Jelena's game that was so apparent at Wimbledon. Reaching the QF was a worthy result, but it came after another series of rollercoaster matches... namely the continuation of the slow starts (losing the 1st set 1-6 to Conchita Martinez in the 2r) and mid-match fade-outs (having to come back from 2-5 in the 2nd set against Amy Frazier in the 1r) that have followed her all season.  Then came Lindsay Davenport.

 

Nine months away didn't dampen Davenport's dominance over Jelena.  Not surprising, especially since JD's most recent play surely had no good effect on the career-long "intimidation factor" she's faced while suffering through the American's 7-0 career record against her.  But even with such a decided lack of confidence going into the match, what with this being Davenport's first full tournament back since knee surgery, one would have expected a little more from Jelena (say a 5-7,4-6 loss?) than what was displayed in the final line of a 2-6,2-6 match that lasted just 48 minutes.  It was Jelena's worst result in the series, and a harsh reminder of all that hasn't changed since Davenport ended the Dokic 2001 season by defeating her in three straight tournaments.

 

But this is another week, and Jelena moves on to Southern California for Event #2 of 5 in the pre-US Open stretch.  So far, she's got a so-so QF under her belt... and that's something that she has to at least match in San Diego.

 

Jelena enters this week as the new #5 player, even if it did come in a "backing in" fashion.  After all, it DOES come only days after she lost to Davenport... then saw Kim Clijsters defeat her in the next round.  Yet, Jelena still moved ahead of the Waffle when Clijsters lost to Venus Williams in the Stanford Final.

Jelena is only defending 3r points in both San Diego and Los Angeles (and in the Tier I in Canada the week after that, too), so if she can just maintain her seed she'll begin to construct the beginning stages of the firewall against the big points defenses she'll face in the WTA season's 4th quarter.

Moving up the rankings seems highly unlikely as the season rushes towards its finish line (though #4 Monica Seles, leading Jelena by 850 points, will have to defend three straight titles after the Open -- and defends a SF in San Diego this week), so the real battle will be for her to maintain the Top 10 ranking -- and match or better her #8 rank from 2001 -- for the season once the Sanex Championships have concluded in November.

 

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*DOKIC SINGLES RANKING EVOLUTION 2002*
#8...January 1-13
#7...January 14-27
#9...January 28-February 10
#6...February 11-17
#8...February 18-March 31
#9...April 1-7
#8...April 8-14
#9...April15-June 9
#8...June 10-23
#7...June 24-July 7
#6...July 8-28
#5...July 29-present


*JELENA vs. Top 10ers - 2001-02*
2001 Record: 3-16
2002 Record: 2-5
-February-
W...Monica Seles (#10)
L...Venus Williams (#2)-walkover
-April-
L...Justine Henin (#9)-retired
-May-
W...Justine Henin (#8)
L...Kim Clijsters (#3)-retired
-June-
L...Jennifer Capriati (#1)
-July-
L...Lindsay Davenport (#9)

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STANFORD (HARDCOURT - II)
S: Venus Williams d. Kim Clijsters
D: Raymond/Stubbs d. C.Martinez/Husarova

SOPOT (RED CLAY - III)
S: Dinara Safina d. Henrieta Nagyova
D: Kuznetsova/Sanchez Vicario d. Koulikovskaya/Syssoeva


 

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Venus Williams
...after having lost in three straight finals, Venus started her trek toward New York with her 5th title of 2002.

RISER: Anna Kournikova
...with back-to-back wins for the first time in months (incuding one over Top 20er Anna Smashnova), there might be a case to be made that Harold Solomon's coaching might finally be getting improved results.  At the very least, the Stanford QF showing was encouraging... something Kournikova hasn't been able to say abut her game for a while.

SURPRISE: Lindsay Davenport
...Jelena Dokic, Davenport herself, and a great number of others seemed surprised by her proficiency in her Stanford SF run after nine months off the tour, but did anyone really expect her to come back out of sorts and lose early?

VETERAN: Lisa Raymond
...working some magic in both draws, Raymond won her 8th doubles title of the year (with Rennae Stubbs) and advanced to the Stanford SF after knocking off Monica Seles.

NEW FACES: Dinara Safina & Jelena Jankovic
...16-year old Russian Safina knocked off Carlsson-Svensson, Schnyder, Serna and Nagyova to claim her first WTA title in Sopot (and reign as the new youngest champion of 2002); while the "other Jelena from Yugoslavia" battled her way past Daja Bedanova to advance to the Stanford QF.

DOWNER: Justine Henin
...the Waffle's 1r Stanford loss to Marissa Irvin after suffering a hand injury barely beats out Cristina Torrens-Valero's 1r defeat at the hands of Polish qualifier Joanna Sakowicz in Sopot.


 

1.Stanford QF - Davenport d. Dokic
...6-2,6-2.  She's baaaaack, though Dokic always seems to be intimidated by the sight of Davenport on the other side of the net.  Nine months away hasn't changed that dynamic in this series.

2.Stanford 1r - Kournikova d. Smashnova
...signs of life?

3.Stanford SF - Clijsters d. Davenport
...looks like the Waffle is back, too, after knocking off Davenport (in 3 sets) for the second straight year in Stanford.

4.Sopot F - Safina d. Nagyova (ret.)
...at 16 years and 3 months, qualifier Safina becomes 2002's youngest champion.

5.Sopot SF - Safina d. Vera Zvonareva
...Safina won the battle of the next wave of Russian women, denying Zvonareva back-to-back appearances in WTA finals.

HM-Stanford 2r - Dokic d. Martinez
...Dokic's 5th straight win over Martinez (and 4th in 2002) knotted their career series at 5-5, and provided the points that made the Yugoslav a Top 5 player for the first time in her career.


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WEEK 31 PREDICTIONS

SAN DIEGO (HARDCOURT - II)
SF: Venus d. Davenport; Capriati d. Dementieva
F: Venus d. Capriati
...Venus likely dominates the top half of the draw, but a potential SF matchup with Davenport looks extremely interesting.  But, before that, QFs of Venus/Clijsters and Davenport/Hantuchova could prevent the hoped-for pairing.  In the bottom, Capriati returns to action and can make the Final without having to face Davenport or either Williams.  Dokic and Seles are possible QF and SF opponents, but if JC is on her game it's hard to see her not getting through.  As for the final, Capriati still has a Williams Complex and hasn't won a title since Oz in January.  If #2 comes in '02, it probably won't be in San Diego.


*WEEK 32*
Los Angeles (II-Hardcourt)
Helsinki (IV-Red Clay)


*MOST SINGLES TITLES*
5...Serena Williams
5...Venus Williams
3...Anna Smashnova
2...JELENA DOKIC
2...Monica Seles
2...Martina Hingis

*MOST SINGLES FINALS*
8...Venus Williams (5-3)
6...Serena Williams (5-1)
5...Justine Henin (1-4)
4...JELENA DOKIC (2-2)
4...Martina Hingis (2-2)

*YOUNGEST 2002 SINGLES CHAMPIONS*
16yr,3mo...Dinara Safina (Sopot)
17yr,1mo...Myriam Casanova (Brussels)
18yr,3mo...M.Mikaelian (Tashkent)

*MOST DOUBLES TITLES*
8...Lisa Raymond
8...Rennae Stubbs
5...Paola Suarez


 

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