Wk.8- The (Month) Departed

After all the drama generated by Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova in Melbourne, who would've thought that the month that immediately followed their runs to the Australian Open final would be able to more than hold it's own in terms of excitement?

That's precisely what happened in February... but, this time, Serena & Maria had nothing to do with it.

Williams has been out with the flu and hasn't played this month, while Sharapova has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since a brief appearance in Tokyo the week after Melbourne. Those two facts make what HAS happened on the court this month all the more amazing (not to mention incredibly encouraging for the prospects of 2007 turning out to be one remarkable season). February is the shortest month of the year, but this most recent outing has produced...

Kim Clijsters' final WTA-sponsored trip to Belgium... Amelie Mauresmo's historic winning of the $1.3 million diamond racket after claiming her third straight Antwerp title... Justine Henin and Venus Williams' returns to the winner's circle.... Cara Black & Liezel Huber's continuation of a four tournament, eighteen-match winning streak... Martina Hingis' Tier I title in Japan... a Paris crown won by Nadia Petrova after coming back from match point against Mauresmo... and, last but not least, Sybille Bammer, Yaroslava Shvedova and Roberta Vinci's first career tour singles titles.

Hey, who needs Serena and Maria?

Well, okay, maybe that's a little strong. But just think what things could be like when they return.

**FEBRUARY AWARDS**

*PLAYERS OF THE MONTH*
1. Amelie Mauresmo
...where exactly do you put a trophy like that anyway?
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2. Cara Black & Liezel Huber
...Lisa & Sam, watch your back.
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3. Justine Henin
...she's baaaaack. (Of course, that's a refrain seemingly heard every other week on the tour this season)
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4. Martina Hingis
...man, it already seems like eons ago that Martina won Tokyo.
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5. Nadia Petrova
...Nadia won 2006's "Best Match" over Henin in Berlin. Her Paris victory over Mauresmo could turn out to be 2007's best, as well.
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*RISERS*
1. Yung-Jan Chan & Chia-Jung Chuang
2. Ana Ivanovic
3. Anna Chakvetadze
4. Jelena Jankovic
5. Tatiana Golovin
HM- Sania Mirza

*SURPRISES*
1. Roberta Vinci
2. Sybille Bammer
3. Maret Ani
4. Olga Savchuk
5. Yurika Sema
H- Camille Pin

*VETERANS*
1. Cara Black & Liezel Huber
2. Martina Hingis
3. Tathiana Garbin
4. Nicole Pratt
5. Tzipora Obziler
HM- Meilen Tu

*FRESH FACES*
1. Lucie Safarova
2. Yaroslava Shvedova
3. Evgenia Linetskaya
4. Alize Cornet
5. Ioana-Raluca Olaru
HM- Vera Dushevina

*DOWN*
1. Maria Sharapova
2. Anna-Lena Groenefeld
3. Marion Bartoli

*COMEBACK PLAYERS*
1. Evgenia Linetskaya
2. Venus Williams
3. Justine Henin
4. Sania Mirza
5. Alicia Molik

TOP PERFORMANCE: Martina Hingis won Tokyo Tier I without dropping a set, putting Roger Federer to shame. Well, not really.
TOP ACCOMPLISHMENT: Amelie Mauresmo claimed the $1.3m, 1702 diamond studded racket in Antwerp.
BEST MATCH - Paris SF - Petrova d. Mauresmo
...5-7/6-4/7-6. Down 4-1 in the 3rd, and a match point, Petrova pushed her way into the final anyway.
BIGGEST UPSET - Paris 2nd - Safarova d. Vaidisova
...6-4/6-2. Lucie won the all-Czech rematch of the Australian QF that Vaidisova won in January, starting Safarova's run of three Top 7 wins in Paris before she failed to notch a fourth Top 7 win against Petrova in the final.

BEST MOVE: Wimbledon announced equal pay for the women's players in '07
MOST HOPEFUL MOVE: Venus & Serena committed to play in the U.S. Fed Cup Team's 1st Round tie. Cross your fingers, Zina Garrison.

CURSED?: Maria Sharapova
CURSE-PROOF?: Justine Henin

Of course, there's always March.


*WEEK 8 CHAMPIONS*

DUBAI, UAE (II-HO)
S: Justine Henin d. Amelie Mauresmo 6-4/7-5
D: Black/Huber d. Kuznetsova/Molik

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE USA (III-HI)
S: Venus Williams d. Shahar Peer 6-1/6-1
D: Pratt/Stewart d. Gajdosova d. Morigami

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (III-RCO)
S: Roberta Vinci d. Tathiana Garbin 6-7/6-3/0-3 ret.
D: Dominguez-Lino/Suarez d. Pennetta/Vinci


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Justine Henin

... the Queen -- and, no, I don't mean Helen Mirren -- is still in power in Dubai. Henin won her fourth title in four tries (and 30th in her career) in the desert, running her tournament winning streak to sixteen matches by rising to the occasion at all the right moments during her meeting with Amelie Mauresmo in the final.
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RISER: Shahar Peer
... at times in Memphis, Peer was "Little Miss Sunshine" -- bageling Milagros Sequera and then hanging a doughnut on Bethanie Mattek in the 1st set of her next match. But then she ran into another Williams sister, and she felt like Eddie Murphy at the Oscars.
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SURPRISES: Roberta Vinci & Tathiana Garbin

... in the anti-"Babel" (hardly internationally diverse) Bogota final, these two Italians didn't have time to worry about writing any "Letters (to or) From Iwo Jima." Vinci had never reached a tour singles final before Sunday, while Garbin hadn't won a title since 2000. In the final's 3rd set, Garbin led 3-0 only to be advised to retire due to "digestive problems," handing the title to her countrywoman under what's surely one of the oddest endings to a tournament in quite a while... well, at least since last year in Melbourne. After so brazenly tempting fate, I'd advise both of these women to stay away from Morocco, Mexican weddings... and maybe deaf/mute Japanese teenagers, too. As for Brad Pitt? Well, I'm sure they'd both take their chances on that one.
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VETERANS: Venus Williams & Cara Black/Liezel Huber
... the "Inconvenient Truth" for the rest of the tour is this: if the Williams sisters are healthy and in form, things are probably not going to go anyone's way but Venus and/or Serena's. Peer learned that the hard way in Memphis, just as she did in Melbourne in January. 26-year old Venus' first title since Stanford '05 only took her one '07 event, and you have to now wonder if Serena's Australian run IS going to inspire big sister to something special, too... just like in '05. "Dreamgirls" Cara & Liezel are really on a tear now. Their title in Dubai was their fourth straight, stretched their consecutive match winning streak to eighteen, and moved into the #2 and #3, respectively, in the doubles rankings behind co-#1's Raymond & Stosur. And they might not stop there, either.
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FRESH FACE: Ioana-Raluca Olaru

... finally, one of the young Romanians got "Happy Feet" last week in Memphis. Olaru, 18 this coming Saturday, qualified for the main draw, then upset Samantha Stosur (who retired) en route to her first career tour SF, where she was brushed aside by "Venus" (the one not starring Peter O'Toole, mind you).
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DOWN: Marion Bartoli
... Bartoli couldn't make her way through Memphis' labyrinth as the #2-seed, so "Pan's Labyrinth" was simply out of the question. She lost in the 1st Round to Laura Granville to drop her '07 record to 3-6 after ending last season at a career-high ranking of #17.
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1. Dub F - Henin d. Mauresmo
...6-4/7-5. Down 15-40 at 4-3 in the 1st set, Henin pulled herself together while Mauresmo's play dipped. Late in a tight contest in the 2nd set, she raised her game to a still higher level to signal her full return to the tour conversation after delaying her season's start until February.
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2. Memph F - V.Williams d. Peer

...6-1/6-1. Peer's "Devil" didn't wear Prada, she wore a red tennis dress and a rather sporty visor. Shahar managed to stay with Serena, but not Venus. Williams' superior brand of tennis hasn't been seen from her side of the net since Wimbledon almost two years ago.
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3. Bog F - Vinci d. Garbin
...6-7/6-3/0-3 ret. Rarely does a player win a title without winning a single game in the final set.
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4. Dub QF - Jankovic d. Hingis
...7-6/6-2. Looks like Jankovic is another heavy hitter that Hingis is going to continually have trouble taking out. But after starting so well (and maybe playing a little TOO much?), Jankovic's results have tailed off slightly of late (she retired in the SF with an ankle injury). Thus, Hingis will likely win the marathon season's ranking race and finish ahead of the Serb even if she can't find a way to beat her between now and November.
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5. Memph 2nd - Peer d. Sequera
...6-0/6-0. Shahar celebrated this one by bageling Mattek in the 1st set in the QF the next time out.
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HM- Dub QF - Mauresmo d. Hantuchova
...6-3/3-6/6-4. A tight loss for Wonder Girl, but this combined with wins over Vesnina and Kirilenko made it a productive week for the Slovakian.


**CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLES - active**
43...Martina Hingis
34...Kim Clijsters
34...VENUS WILLIAMS
30...JUSTINE HENIN
27...Serena Williams
24...Amelie Mauresmo

**MOST SINGLES TITLES - 2006/07**
7...JUSTINE HENIN (6/1)
6...Nadia Petrova (5/1)
5...Amelie Mauresmo (4/1)
5...Maria Sharapova (5/0)
4...Kim Clijsters (3/1)

**CONSECUTIVE YEARS w/ TITLE - ACTIVE**
9...Kim Clijsters (1999-07)
9...Amelie Mauresmo (1999-07)
7...JUSTINE HENIN (2001-07)

**2007 DOUBLES TITLES**
4...CARA BLACK
4...LIEZEL HUBER
2...Elena Likhovtseva (1 mixed)
2...NICOLE PRATT
2...PAOLA SUAREZ

**2007 ALL-NATION FINALS**
Hobart (Russia)...Chakvetadze d. Bardina
BOGOTA (ITALY)...VINCI DEF. GARBIN

**DEFEATED TOP SEED, WON TITLE - 2007**
Gold Coast - Dinara Safina (d. Hingis)
Aust.Open - Serena Williams (d. Sharapova)
Bangalore - Yaroslava Shvedova (d. Santangelo)
MEMPHIS - VENUS WILLIAMS (DEF. PEER)
BOGOTA - ROBERTA VINCI (DEF. GARBIN)

**LOW-RANKD 2007 CHAMPIONS**
#143..Yaroslava Shvedova (Bangalore)
#81...Serena Williams (Australian)
#64...ROBERTA VINCI (BOGOTA)
#61...Sybille Bammer (Pattaya)
#54...VENUS WILLIAMS (MEMPHIS)

**NATIONS w/ MULTIPLE '07 CHAMPIONS**
4...Russia (Chakvetadze/Petrova/Safina/Shvedova)
2...BELGIUM (CLIJSTERS & HENIN)
2...USA (S.WILLIAMS & V.WILLIAMS)

**WEEKS AT #1 - ACTIVE**
209..Martina Hingis
57...Serena Williams
56...Justine Henin
39...Amelie Mauresmo
19...Kim Clijsters
17...Jennifer Capriati
12...MARIA SHARAPOVA
11...Venus Williams



DOHA, QATAR (II-HO)
2006 FINAL: Petrova d. Mauresmo
2007 TOP: Henin/Kuznetsova
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SF: Henin d. Jankovic; Kuznetsova d. Hantuchova
FINAL: Henin d. Kuznetsova

...it'd probably be smarter to put Hingis into the final rather than Kuznetsova, but she could face Hantuchova in the QF. And since Wonder Girl's been playing rather well of late, I'll throw her an encouraging bone here.


ACAPULCO, MEXICO (III-RCO)
2006 FINAL: Groenefeld d. Pennetta
2007 TOP: Bartoli/Garbin
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SF: Dulko d. Pin; Pennetta d. Zakopalova
FINAL: Pennetta d. Dulko

...so, Groenefeld finally gets her chance to right her season with a week on clay a year after she claimed her first career title. What? ALG's not here? She's in Doha? Well, good luck, Anna-Lena. Hope you last until Wednesday.

All for now.