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Sharapova, Serena, Davenport Feature at WTA LA
Posted on August 7, 2006
Four Top 10 players, including the return of Lindsay Davenport from her chronic back injury, compete this week at the JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles, California.
Kim Clijsters, the scourge of the US Open Series hardcourt season, take a week off to allow another player to grab some glory after winning at Stanford then narrowly losing to Maria Sharapova in San Diego. Last year Clijsters won the US Open Series, and the US Open.
Davenport is on the verge of dropping out of the Top 10, with the No. 10-ranked American competing in only three events this year without a title due to her back injury.
Sharapova tops the seeded players, joined among the Top 8 seeds by fellow Russians Nadia Petrova, Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina, the American Davenport, German Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, and Italian Flavia Pennetta.
Davenport is the lone American among the 16 seeds in LA. Venus Williams sits out this week with a wrist injury, but Serena Williams attempts play on her injured knee, as an unseeded wildcard entrant drawing No. 11 seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia in the opening round.
If Williams can navigate past Kirilenko, who is on a three-match losing streak, her draw opens up facing the winner of Ashley "H-Road" Harkleroad and a qualifier, then the No. 7 seed Hantuchova. Williams and Davenport could meet in an all-American semifinal.
Sharapova's road to the final could feature an all-Russian quarterfinal against Safina, and an all-Russian semifinal against Dementieva.
Other opening-round matches of upset-potential interest are (15) Marion Bartoli vs. American (WC) Angela Haynes, (14) Shahar Peer vs. China's Shuai Peng, (12) Katarina Srebotnik vs. Russian comer Anna Chakvetadze, (16) Jelena Jankovic vs. former Indian sensation Sania Mirza, and (13) Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues vs. American Meghann Shaughnessy.
In last year's final the No. 5-seeded Clijsters eased past the No. 9-seeded Hantuchova 6-4, 6-1.
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