Wk.25- Bare Bones Backspin II

Hmmm, let's see... how to wrap up Week 25 succinctly, but also quickly enough to allow the immediate shifting of focus to Wimbledon? Okay, here it goes:

"Jelena Jankovic isn't a machine, but Justine Henin might be at the moment... Anna Chakvetadze might not be able to beat Maria Sharapova, but she can beat the people who beat Maria Sharapova... Amelie Mauresmo, in a matter of minutes, went from a potential Wimbledon favorite to defend her title to a big question mark when the pressure is turned up... and, um, Backspin is glad about that because Le Petit Taureau's title in Eastbourne allowed the upcoming Wimbledon preview article to retain it's intended resonance. Whew!"

All right, that should do it. Now it's time to cross some t's and dot some i's.

*WEEK 25 CHAMPIONS*

EASTBOURNE, ENGLAND (II-Grass)
S: Justine Henin d. Amelie Mauresmo 7-5/6-7/7-6
D: Raymond/Stosur d. Peschke/Stubbs

's-HERTOGENBOSCH, NETHERLANDS (III-Grass)
S: Anna Chakvetadze d. Jelena Jankovic 7-6/3-6/6-3
D: Chan/Chuang d. Medina-Garrigues/Ruano-Pascual


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Justine Henin
... Four times women have defended their 2006 tour titles this season, and Henin has accounted for three of them. This time she repeated as Eastbourne champion, matching her 3rd set tie-break win from a year ago over Anastasia Myskina, only this time accomplishing it against '06 Wimbledon champ Amelie Mauresmo. The Queen's fifth title on the season makes her 40-9 on grass in her career.
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RISERS: Anna Chakvetadze & Yung-Jan Chan/Chia-Jung Chuang
... Marion Bartoli reached her second straight grasscourt SF in Eastbourne, but this award goes to the title winners this week. Chakvetadze played the Henin role against Jelena Jankovic in 's-Hertogenbosch, winning a three-set final to claim her first grass court title. Meanwhile, Chan/Chuang made their grass tune-up schedule a two-for-two affair as they followed up their Birmingham win with a title in the Netherlands, too.
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SURPRISES: Katie O'Brien & Melanie South
... Wimbledon is nearly here, so it's time for the Brits to actually put up a few results. In Eastbourne, O'Brien qualified and defeated Vasilisa Bardina in the 1st Round, while wild card South (who upset Francesca Schiavone at Wimbledon last year) outlasted Alicia Molik in a 3rd set tie-break to take her 1st Round match.
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VETERANS: Amelie Mauresmo & Lisa Raymond
... Sure, Mauresmo was gobbled up by the moment in the closing games of the Eastbourne final, but her wins over Santangelo, Peer and Petrova, as well as her seeming command of the Henin match before she served at 5-4 in the 3rd set should have at least prepared her well for her attempt to defend at the All-England Club. Meanwhile, Raymond & Samantha Stosur won a tour-leading fifth doubles title of the season in Eastbourne. The battle for doubles #1 is likely to be a season-long push-and-pull event.
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FRESH FACE: Angelique Kerber
... The German teenager continued to produce some good big tour results after so much ITF success. In 's-Hertogenbosch, she knocked off Yung-Jan Chan and Elena Vesnina en route to the QF. She'll face Chakvetadze in the 1st Round of Wimbledon.
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DOWN: Vera Zvonareva & Severine Bremond
... Zvonareva's wrist injury, which put her out of Roland Garros, will keep her away from SW19, as well. Meanwhile, a year ago, qualifier Bremond was a surprise quarterfinalist at Wimbledon. So far, her 2007 grasscourt results have yet to produce a win after she lost a second straight 1st Rounder, to Eleni Daniilidou (after falling to Molik in Birmingham) in the Netherlands.
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1. East F - Henin d. Mauresmo
...7-5/6-7/7-6. Henin remains unbeaten at Eastbourne... and the All-England Club could do far worse than have this match-up at the end of the upcoming fortnight. Henin was up a break in the 2nd, but Mauresmo battled back. Mauresmo was up a break in the 3rd, and served at 5-4. But Henin, more and more comfortable on grass all the time, ended up taking the match as her game held steady while Mauresmo's lost it's edge in crunch time. But can the defending SW19 champion rediscover her '06 magic once she sets foot on the grounds at Wimbledon?
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2. Neth F - Chakvetadze d. Jankovic
...7-6/3-6/6-3. Chakvetadze lost a 5-1 1st set lead, but was saved from the slide by a rain delay at 5-4. She came back to win the set in a tie-break in what proved to be the key moment of the match.
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3. East QF - Henin d. Vaidisova
...6-2/6-2. It's nearly July, and neither the Dynamova nor the Supernova have claimed a title yet.
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4. Neth 2nd - Safina d. Krajicek
...6-4/3-6/6-4. Marat's sister gets her revenge on Richard's sister for beating her in the final in 's-Hertogenbosch a year ago.
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5. Neth QF - Hantuchova d. Ivanovic
...6-3/6-1. Wonder Girl DOES list grass as her favorite surface.
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HM- East QF - Petrova d. Bammer
...6-7/7-5/6-4. Petrova talks about her questionable motivation at the moment, but one wonders if she were in better shape and healthier (hmmm, could there be a connection?), as she was at the start and end of '06, if the likely higher victory total might alter her thinking a little. Even in this match, she went through multiple medical time-outs before finally prevailing, only to retire after a set with a shoulder problem in the SF against Mauresmo.
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HM- East QF - Mauresmo d. Peer
...6-3/6-4. Ummm, maybe the Tennis Channel should re-think how it abbreviates Peer's name in the corner-of-the-screen scorebox. "PEE" is just, well, it's just not right. Or at least it SHOULDN'T be.
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**2007 WTA TITLES**
5...JUSTINE HENIN
4...Jelena Jankovic
2...Serena Williams
2...ANNA CHAKVETADZE

**BEST 2007 FINAL WIN PCT. - MULTIPLE FINALS**
100% - Serena Williams (2-0)
100% - ANNA CHAKVETADZE (2-0)
83% - JUSTINE HENIN (5-1)
67% - JELENA JANKOVIC (4-2)

**MOST SINGLES TITLES - 2006/07**
11..JUSTINE HENIN (6/5)
6...Nadia Petrova (5/1)
5...Maria Sharapova (5/0)
5...Amelie Mauresmo (4/1)
4...Jelena Jankovic (0/4)
4...ANNA CHAKVETADZE (2/2)
4...Kim Clijsters (3/1)

**2007 TITLES -- RUSSIANS**
2...ANNA CHAKVETADZE (HOBART,'s-HERT.)
1...Elena Dementieva (Strasbourg)
1...Nadia Petrova (Paris)
1...Dinara Safina (Gold Coast)
1...Yaroslava Shvedova (Bangalore)

**DEFENDED TITLES IN 2007**
Feb - Amelie Mauresmo (Antwerp, 2005-07)
Feb - Justine Henin (Dubai, 2006-07)
Jun - Justine Henin (Roland Garros, 2005-07)
Jun - JUSTINE HENIN (EASTBOURNE, 2006-07)

**2007 DOUBLES TITLES - TEAMS**
5...LISA RAYMOND/SAMANTHA STOSUR
4...Cara Black/Liezel Huber
3...YUNG-JAN CHAN/CHIA-JUNG CHUANG
2...Zi Yan/Jie Zheng


All for now.