Moscow Preview

By Micheal Galvin
Date: 1/10/2001

With the recent shock of a 2nd round exit for Jelena in Leipzig, Jelena has a fresh chance to enhance her world ranking. Jelena is currently ranked at 11.

If Jelena performs in the Kremlin Cup she is almost guaranteed a top 10 ranking and a career best! :) The very best players in the world will be there Hingis, Mauresmo, Henin etc.

The first round draw has gave Jelena a tie with
Russian, Lina Krasnoroutskaya. Lina is a promising
talent, at the age of 17 she demonstrated her talent in the French Open by getting to the Quarter-finals. Lina also defeated Sanchez-Vicario in Dubai, this was not an one off, her scalps include defeating Huber in the Italian Open 2001, and then ranked 20th Nathalie Dechy in Birmingham. Lina will prove a stern test for Jelena. Jelena needs a match like this to boost her confidence. With confidence we have seen how her tennis improves.


Jelena who is seeded 5th and has been spared of 1st seed, Martina Hingis and 3rd seed, Justine Henin. Jelena could meet Anna Kournikova in the 2nd round, which would be an equally hard test t the first round match. Anna has been off the circuit for a while with injury and now is hungry to regain her rank in the top 10, a win against Jelena would only enhance her chances. 2nd seeded Amelie Mauresmo is on Jelena's side of the draw, they well could meet in the semi-finals.

The tournament is played on carpet and offers a
relatively big prize of $1,185,000.

Moscow offers Jelena a great opportunity to get back on track. If Jelena beats both the home girls in the opening two round, this would be a tremendous boost to her confidence. With this I'm sure she should proceed to a least the semis and hopefully gain a top 10 ranking.


C'MON JELENA!!!!