=================
THE CHAMPIONSHIPS (Wimbledon, England; grass; Grand Slam)
================= http://www.wimbledon.org/
Contents
--------

1. First-round draw
2. Anna Chakvetadze preview
3. Order of play for Monday

This is an Anna-filtered subset of my full analysis of the draw:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=305015

-------------------
1. First-round draw
-------------------
1.1 Top quarter: Daniela Hantuchová
-----------------------------------

* JUSTINE HENIN [1] v Jorgelina Cravero [Q]
* Timea Bacsinszky v Vera Dushevina (hopp Timea!)
* Sun,Tiantian v Emilie Loit
* Elena Vesnina v OLGA POUTCHKOVA [30] (may the better win!)

* ALYONA BONDARENKO [24] v Jill Craybas (davai Alyona!)
* Eva Birnerová v Ágnes Szávay [Q] (pojdme Eva!)
* Ashley Harkleroad v Roberta Vinci (both nice; go Ashley!)
* Camille Pin v PATTY SCHNYDER [15]

* DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [10,EF] v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova [WC] (podme
Daniela!)
* Maria Elena Camerin v Elena Likhovtseva (both nice; forza Maria
Elena!)
* Nika Ožegovic [Q] v Anna-Lena Grönefeld
* KATARINA SREBOTNIK [19] v Elena Baltacha [WC] (dajmo Katarina!)

* SAMANTHA STOSUR [27] v Kristina Brandi [Q]
* Milagros Sequera v Julia Schruff
* Alicia Molik v Anastasia Rodionova (go Alicia!)
* Lourdes Domínguez Lino v SERENA WILLIAMS [7]


1.2 Second quarter: Anna Chakvetadze
------------------------------------

* JELENA JANKOVIC [3] v Anne Keothavong [WC]
* Meghann Shaughnessy v Jarmila Gajdošová
* Gisela Dulko [DF] v Eleni Daniilidou
* LUCIE ŠAFÁROVÁ [25,DF] v Zuzana Ondrášková (both nice; pojdme
Lucie!)

* Flavia Pennetta [DF] v MARION BARTOLI [18,S] (both nice; forza
Flavia!)
* Olga Govortsova [Q] v Greta Arn (davai Olga!)
* Tatjana Malek v Kaia Kanepi (ich wünsche, daß Tatjana gewinnt)
* SHAHAR PE'ER [16] v Tamarine Tanasugarn (kadima Shahar!)

* MARTINA HINGIS [9] v Naomi Cavaday [9] (hopp Martina!)
* Martina Suchá v Aiko Nakamura [S] (my Reason says Aiko, but my
Passion says Martina)
* Aleksandra Wozniak v Laura Granville
* Varvara Lepchenko v SYBILLE BAMMER [20] (davai Varvara!)

* MICHAËLLA KRAJÍCEK [31] v Tzipora Obziler (kom op Michaëlla!)
* Sandra Klösel v Katie O'Brien [WC]
* Viktoriya Kutuzova [WC] v Tatiana Poutchek
* ANNA CHAKVETADZE [8,EF] v Angelique Kerber (davai Anna!)


1.3 Third quarter: Nicole Vaidišová
-----------------------------------

* ANA IVANOVIC [6,DF] v Melinda Czink (ajde Ana!)
* Edina Gallovits v Meilen Tu
* Aravane Rezaď v Shenay Perry (allez Aravane!)
* Anne Kremer v FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE [29] (dajee Anne!)

* Virginia Ruano Pascual v ANABEL MEDINA GARRIGUES [22] (Ąvamos
Virginia!)
* Tatiana Perebiynis [Q] v Emmanuelle Gagliardi (davai Tatiana!)
* Sania Mirza [DF] v Yaroslava Shvedova (both nice; chal Sania!)
* Vania King v NADIA PETROVA [11]

* NICOLE VAIDIŠOVÁ [14,EF] v Karin Knapp (pojdme Nicole!)
* Nicole Pratt v Casey Dell'Acqua [Q]
* Victoria Azarenka v Jelena Kostanic Tošic
* Yan,Zi [Q,S] v TATHIANA GARBIN [21] (jia you Zi!)

* Ayumi Morita [Q,S] v MARA SANTANGELO [28] (ganbatte Ayumi!)
* Caroline Wozniacki [WC] v Anastasiya Yakimova (kom sĺ Caroline!)
* Virginie Razzano v Yvonne Meusburger
* Jamea Jackson v AMÉLIE MAURESMO [4] (anyone but Mauresmo!)


1.4 Bottom quarter: Maria Sharapova
-----------------------------------

* Julia Vakulenko v SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA [5] (davai Julia!)
* Bethanie Mattek v Vasilisa Bardina
* Tsvetana Kirilova Pironkova v Agnieszka Radwanska (aide Tsvetana!)
* Anna Smashnova v MARTINA MÜLLER [32]

* TATIANA GOLOVIN [17,DF] v Hsieh,Su-Wei [Q,S] (allez Tatiana!)
* Tamira Paszek v Barbora Záhlavová Strýcová [Q] (auf jetzt Tamira!)
* Iveta Benešová v Catalina Castańo (pojdme Iveta!)
* ELENA DEMENTIEVA [12] v Nathalie Dechy (davai Elena!)

* Kateryna Bondarenko v DINARA SAFINA [13] (davai Kateryna!)
* Akiko Morigami [S] v Alberta Brianti (ganbatte Akiko!)
* Peng,Shuai [S] v Hana Šromová (jia you Shuai!)
* Alla Kudryavtseva v VENUS WILLIAMS [23]

* AI SUGIYAMA [26] v Melanie South [WC]
* Maria Kirilenko v Alizé Cornet [LL] (both nice; davai Maria!)
* Séverine Brémond v Ekaterina Bychkova (both nice; allez Séverine!)
* MARIA SHARAPOVA [2,EF] v Chan,Yung-Jan (davai Maria!)

---------------------------
2. Anna Chakvetadze preview
---------------------------

Although too late to affect the Wimbledon-seedings, Anna has just
overtaken Serena Williams to rise to a career-high #7 in the WTA
Singles Rankings, having won her fourth title - all since September
2006, and she has a 4:0 record in finals! - at 's-Hertogenbosch with
the following results:
1r + Victoria Azarenka, 5-7 6-2 6-2
2r + Francesca Schiavone, 6-4 7-6 (7/3)
qf + Angelique Kerber, 6-2 6-2
sf + DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [5,EF], 6-3 6-4
_f + JELENA JANKOVIC [1], 7-6 (7/2) 3-6 6-3

The win over Jankovic was especially impressive, as Jankovic has been
one of the form-players of the year so far, and had beaten Maria
Sharapova in the Birmingham final! Jankovic may have been struggling
with a left-hamstring injury, and may have been tired after a
marathon three-set semi-final, but beating her is an excellent
message for Anna to send out when they could meet again in the
quarter-finals of Wimbledon!


2.1 First round
---------------

Anna has only played Angelique Kerber once before, and you see the
result right there from 's-Hertogenbosch above!

19-year-old Kerber has played mainly on the ITF Women's Circuit this
year, but with an impressive win/loss record of 42:13, having won ITF
Saguenay, ITF Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ITF Antalya-Attaleia, and
ITF Prerov just two weeks ago, beating none other than Klára
Zakopalová (née Koukalová) in the final!

But it's a big step up from the ITF circuit to competing with an on-
form world #7, so I expect another easy victory for Anna over the
world #76.

I watched the whole match of Kerber beating Olga Poutchkova 6-0 6-0
at Birmingham, but it was hard to get an impression of Kerber's
abilities, as an overweight, miserable Poutchkova was making either a
winner or, more likely, an unforced error within six strokes of every
single point.


2.2 Second round
----------------

I hope it will be the pretty Viktoriya Kutuzova, but she is ranked
#159 to Tatiana Poutchek's #85, despite beating Poutchek in their
only meeting.

Anna leads Kutuzova 2:0 head-to-head (2005 US Open 1r: 6-3 3-6 7-5,
2006 Indian Wells 2r: 6-4 7-5), so they've had tough matches, but
Anna has improved so much since those times! She's never played
Poutchek.

Kutuzova is not having a good year. The only times she's won two
matches in a row have been in failed qualifying-attempts at Gold
Coast and Dubai. She suffered a 5-match losing-streak in March/April,
and is on a 3-match one now, despite playing two ITF tournaments
since the French Open.

Poutchek is also on a 3-match losing-streak, having lost in the
second round of the French Open, and first rounds at Barcelona and
Eastbourne. But she's playing at a higher level than Kutuzova, so
sadly she should beat her.

Either way, it should be easy pickings for Anna in the second round.


2.3 Third round
---------------

I hope and expect that Michaëlla Krajícek - who won 's-Hertogenbosch
last year, just as Anna did this - will be Anna's third-round
opponent.

Michaëlla isn't having a good year, though: she has a win/loss record
of 11:15, although she did have a great run at Charleston, where she
beat Nicole Vaidišová 4-6 6-4 6-3 and Sybille Bammer 6-7 6-2 6-1 to
reach the quarter-finals, and also reached the third round of the
French Open.

Michaëlla lost 7-6 6-4 to Yuliana Fedak in 1r Birmingham, but I
attended that match, and it was a very impressive performance from
Yuliana to frustrate Michaëlla, who was hitting big serves and coming
to the net behind them.

Michaëlla beat Gisela Dulko 6-3 6-2 at 's-Hertogenbosch before losing
6-4 3-6 6-4 to Dinara Safina.

Anna's only meeting with Michaëlla was at Hasselt 2005. Michaëlla was
leading 6-3 3-1 when Anna retired with a right-wrist strain.

If Michaëlla loses before the third round, it will be to her first-
round opponent, Tzipora Obziler, whom Anna has never played, and who
is having an impressive 20:11 year highlighted by runs to the quarter-
finals of Pattaya City (from qualifying) and semis of Bangalore.


2.4 Fourth round
----------------

Ten years ago, Martina Hingis was dominating the WTA Tour, winning
the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. But women's tennis
has become much more powerful since then, and Hingis is in her second
year of a comeback after retiring for three years.

Anna has often been compared with Hingis, due to her anticipation and
ability to make her defensive shots awkward for her opponent. But
they've only met once: Hingis was leading 6-3 3-1 in the semi-finals
of Montréal 2006 when Anna retired with a right-forearm strain.

Hingis had an impressive start to the year, culminating in the Tokyo
Pan Pacific title, but after that she lost to Daniela Hantuchová at
Doha and Indian Wells, and to Agnieszka Radwanska at Miami. Her
claycourt-season was restricted to just Berlin, where she lost
6-4 6-0 to Patty Schnyder, then pulled out of the French Open with a
left-hip injury, and Wimbledon is her first tournament back. So I
don't rate her as much of a threat to Anna.

Perhaps the greater danger comes from Sybille Bammer, who has been in
the form of her life this year. She beat Serena Williams to reach the
semi-finals of Hobart, won Pattaya City over Gisela Dulko, reached
the semi-finals of Indian Wells with wins over Ana Ivanovic and
Tatiana Golovin, the semi-finals of Amelia Island, and the fourth
round of the French Open.

But Anna is 2:0 head-to-head against Bammer, both this year: 1r
Australian Open 6-4 7-5, 2r Antwerp 4-6 7-6 6-2.

Bammer had a good run at Eastbourne, beating Maria Kirilenko 6-2 6-3
and Lucie Šafárová 6-7 7-5 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals, where she
lost 6-7 7-5 6-4 to Nadia Petrova. The 27-year-old's Wimbledon-record
is an unenviable 3:5, her best result being a third-round appearance
last year, though that was before her transformation.


2.5 Quarter-final
-----------------

It's good that Anna got one over on Jelena Jankovic in the 's-
Hertogenbosch final when they might have to meet again here! Anna
actually leads their head-to-head 5:2, with Jankovic's only wins
coming in 1r Wimbledon 2005 and Warsaw 2007 (Jankovic was leading 7-6
3-1 when Anna retired with a right-shoulder strain).

Admittedly four of Anna's wins came before 2007, when Jankovic became
so powerful, but it's still a very encouraging head-to-head.

Of course, it's possible that Jankovic might be so tired after her
three-set marathons in the last two rounds of 's-Hertogenbosch that
she might be vulnerable to an early exit - and who better to deliver
it than Lucie Šafárová, of whom Anna writes in her latest Diary at
http://www.theannachakvetadze.com/ : "Lucie is a great player. You
better watch out because Lucie will climb up the rankings this
year : ), Wait and see : )."

---------------------------
3. Order of play for Monday
---------------------------

Court 18 (start 12:00 BST = 11:00 GMT)
1. WS 1r: SHAHAR PE'ER [16] v Tamarine Tanasugarn
2. MS 1r: Benjamin Becker v JUAN IGNACIO CHELA [14]
3. MS 1r: Rik de Voest v MARAT SAFIN [26]
4. WS 1r: ANNA CHAKVETADZE [8,EF] v Angelique Kerber

Court 18 /is/ one of the televised courts, but I get the feeling that
Anna means nothing to the BBC after they failed to televise her this
year despite her Australian and French Open quarter-finals! :-||

Full order of play:
http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/schedule/

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/chakv/

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