Last week an exhausted
Amelie Mauresmo, coming off three consecutive tour titles, fell in the quarterfinals at Dubai to struggling Russian
Svetlana Kuznetsova. But that hasn't stopped the tired Frenchwoman, now on the verge of taking
Kim Clijsters' No. 1 ranking, from accepting several hundred thousand dollars in appearance money to go it again this week as the top seed at the Qatar Total Open in Doha.
Joining Mauresmo among the seeds is only one other Top 10 member in Russian
Nadia Petrova, joined by Top 20-ranked Russians
Anastasia Myskina, Kuznetsova and
Elena Likhovtseva, Italian
Francesca Schiavone, Slovak
Daniela Hantuchova, and Serb
Jelena Jankovic.
Also of note in the field are wildcard
Martina Hingis facing American
Mashona Washington in her opener, and China's riser
Jie Zheng vs. (6) Kuznetsova, with the winner to likely face Russian
Maria Kirilenko.
Potential semifinal meetings include (1) Mauresmo vs. Hingis, and (2) Petrova vs. (4) Myskina.
Last year's winner
Maria Sharapova took a pass on defending her title, defeating currently-injured Aussie
Alicia Molik in the 2005 final.
