WTA Acura Classic - finally some of the real big guns debut this summer

[anointedone]

The Acura Classic in San Diego will finally feature a couple of the real marquee names in womens tenns. Mainly Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic, and Venus Williams will be making their summer hard court debuts. Other big names appearing for the first time this summer include Nadia Petrova, Martina Hingis, and 2-time slam finalist Elena Dementieva.

Anna Chakvetadze, the biggest womens name player by far to have appeared so far this summer, is coming off 2 tournament titles in a row. She is red hot and hoping for a 3rd but will face much sterner opposition if she is to make that happen. Mirza, Hantuchova, and Schnyder will be looking to build off fairly good starts to their summer campaigns as well, again with the competition racheted up a big notch.

Here is the draw:

(1) Maria Sharapova vs. BYE
Laura Granville vs. Tamarine Tanasugarn
Akiko Morigami vs. Qualifier
Gisela Dulko vs. (13) Tatiana Golovin

(12) Shahar Peer vs. Sania Mirza
Jill Craybas vs. Eleni Daniilidou
Camille Pin vs. Qualifier
BYE vs. ( 8 ) Dinara Safina

(3) Anna Chakvetadze vs. BYE
Olga Poutchkova vs. Meghann Shaughnessy
Ai Sugiyama vs. Qualifier
Kateryna Bondarenko vs. (15) Sybille Bammer

(10) Venus Williams vs. Anastassia Rodionova
Virginie Razzano vs. Qualifier
Victoria Azarenka vs. Yung-Jan Chan
BYE vs. (6) Daniela Hantuchova
-------------------------------------
(7) Martina Hingis vs. BYE
Michaella Krajicek vs. Qualifier
Alla Kudryavtseva vs. Julia Vakulenko
Jamea Jackson vs. (11) Patty Schnyder

(14) Alona Bondarenko vs. Peng Shuai
Nicole Pratt vs. Katarina Srebotnik
Elena Bovina vs. (WC) Coco Vandeweghe
BYE vs. (4) Nadia Petrova

(5) Marion Bartoli vs. BYE
Milagros Sequera vs. Qualifier
Qualifier vs. (WC) Brittany Augustine
(WC) Catalina Castano vs. (9) Elena Dementieva

(16) Lucia Safarova vs. Meilen Tu
Maria Kirilenko vs. Qualifier
Vania King vs. (WC) Asia Muhammed
BYE vs. (2) Jelena Jankovic

Who will be champion?

 

[MEAC_ALLAMERICAN]

# 4 Acura Classic..

Got to go with Venus for #4 in a row at Carlsbad.

Might face Hantichova in the 3rd Round, Chakvetaze in the Quarterfinals, Sharapova in the Semifinals and maybe Jankovic in the Final.

But another name to look out for is the left handed Czech Lucie Safarova Berdych :grin: , the girl has serious game.

 

[anointedone]

Got to go with Venus for #4 in a row at Carlsbad.

Might face Hantichova in the 3rd Round, Chakvetaze in the Quarterfinals, Sharapova in the Semifinals and maybe Jankovic in the Final.

But another name to look out for is the left handed Czech Lucie Safarova Berdych :grin: , the girl has serious game.

Venus will definitely have some tough tests to face. We will see how ready she is to carry over from Wimbledon.

I agree on Safarova. Definitely a dangerous player in this draw, and a strong up and comer. She has some very clean powerful groundies, which have already taken Mauresmo out of 2 Grand Slams this year.

 

[Ripster]

I voted for Venus, doesn't she win this every year?

 

[MEAC_ALLAMERICAN]

Venus in the past has played well at Carlsbad...

For the last 4 years that she entered, she was a Finalist once and won 3 straight times until 2002, the last time she played in Carlsbad.

 

[pirateofthecarribean]

Venus Williams has four Wimbledon titles, the biggest title of the year. That means she'll play this "amateur" tournament called Acura Classic with absolutely no pressure. When Venus plays with zero pressure, she's at her very best.

 

[MEAC_ALLAMERICAN]

Good for her confidence.

Elena Bovina, a 24 year old Russian that was once boasted as one of the next big hitters on the WTA is on the comeback trail from injuries.

She hasn’t won a match on the tour yet this year (0-5), but she defeated some American Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 7-5 in the 1st round. Her next opponent is Nadia Petrova.

I saw a piece on her on TTC, and it is good to see her making a little some little strides. If anybody cares

 

[AlpineCadet]

I went today and got a chance to see Hantuchova, Michaella Krajicek, and Maria Kirilenko. Krajicek looked pretty amazing out there, but paled in comparison to Kirilenko's power. Also, I saw no one-handed backhands.

 

[MEAC_ALLAMERICAN]

I went today and got a chance to see Hantuchova, Michaella Krajicek, and Maria Kirilenko. Krajicek looked pretty amazing out there, but paled in comparison to Kirilenko's power. Also, I saw no one-handed backhands.

How was Kirilenko playing?

 

[AlpineCadet]

How was Kirilenko playing?

She hit the most variety, and had an all court game. She hit a lot harder than most of the girls, and had a very big serve compared to Hantuchova or Michaella.

 

[MEAC_ALLAMERICAN]

Thank you..

She hit the most variety, and had an all court game. She hit a lot harder than most of the girls, and had a very big serve compared to Hantuchova or Michaella.

I am glad to hear that because I think she has had a very dismal year thus far , and I hope this is a sign of things to come. She has also had a few injury problems, but hopefully she has recovered and gaining confidence.

 

[rynstonet]

I was at the Acura, I saw the Venus Williams match. I met Venus, Sania, and Jelena J. Jelena Jankovic my friend and I saw while we were going back tot he car, she was walking around at night and she was drinking a big gulp! lol. She started laughing because she had a big gulp and we asked to take a picture and she didn't want the big gulp in the picture.

 

[JaySpin]

Bartoli at Acura

Went to the Acura yesterday, free parking for all Acura's so my beat up ol' Integra saved me $12 bucks! Got to see Dementieva and Schnyder, Elena got stretched to 3 sets by Castano-god her serve is a liability!

Also in the smaller courts caught Morigami/Kremer and Peng/Bodnarenko, both hard fought 3 setters with the Asian girls losing it mentally in the 3rd's. I still enjoyed watching the two handed forehands of Morigami and Peng because I hit this way also.

Most entertaining was watching Marion Bartoli for about 30 minutes working out with her Dad. What a strange routine they have. She used what looked like and iron or lead bar, looked heavy as hell and ran around the court making swings with this thing. Then Dad set himself upo in the service box and basically hit dinks to different spots on the court which Marion ran off to and blasted all to the same spot in the ad side of the court. She looked like she was exhausted. My girlfriend who understands french said she kept saying she was tired and not feeling well. Totally different practice session from Hingis and Hantuchova who were also practicing yesterday. Well, whatever works I guess.

 

[AlpineCadet]

I am glad to hear that because I think she has had a very dismal year thus far , and I hope this is a sign of things to come. She has also had a few injury problems, but hopefully she has recovered and gaining confidence.

Also, she looked beautiful.

 

[MEAC_ALLAMERICAN]

Finally you caught on...

Also, she looked beautiful.

I wanted to ask but I had to make it look like I was interested in her game, thanks for seeing right through me..lol

 

[Shashwat]

im rooting for mirza!
but reality is she probably wont win it.
she has a huggggee forehand.

 

[pirateofthecarribean]

im rooting for mirza!
but reality is she probably wont win it.
she has a huggggee forehand.

Venus will trash her if they meet.

 

[MEAC_ALLAMERICAN]

Come on now, let the draw play out

Venus will trash her if they meet.

This guy .....lol :roll: :roll: :roll: