Sharapova Readies for Indian Wells Title Defense

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA - The stars of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour will head to the desert this fortnight for the $2.1 million Pacific Life Open, which is celebrating its 19th year (it was first held in 1989 as a Tier II event, but has been a Tier I stop since 1997). Seven of the world's Top 10 players, as well as a smattering of up-and-coming prospects, populate the 96-player singles main draw.

The world's No.1 player, Maria Sharapova, takes the top slot of the draw as the top seed. The Russian megastar had an excellent start to the season in Australia, reaching the final and subsequently reclaiming the top ranking from Justine Henin; but in her second appearance of the year at Tokyo, she was forced to pull out of her semifinal match due to a left hamstring strain. Now, a healthy Sharapova hopes to get back on track in her third event of the year here. She will have some pressure to deal with, however. Not only is she the defending champion, but she also needs to reach the semifinals in order to hold onto her top ranking, with Henin having just come off back-to-back titles in the Middle East and knocking on the door of a No.1 return. After a first round bye, Sharapova opens against Michaella Krajicek or Sofia Arvidsson.

Her compatriot and fellow Top 5 player Svetlana Kuznetsova is potentially her biggest threat this fortnight. Kuznetsova was one of last year's top performers, and after somewhat of a shaky start to 2007 rekindled her form during the Middle Eastern swing and is now back her career-high No.4 ranking. She was also stellar in her last American Tier I appearance, capturing Miami nearly a year ago with a win over Sharapova in the final. Seeded No.2 this fortnight, she begins with either Romina Oprandi or wild card Lilia Osterloh in the second round.

One of the Pacific Life Open's most successful players, namely Martina Hingis, is the No.3 seed, and in Sharapova's half of the draw. Hingis is an incredible 25-5 in six appearances at the Tier I event, winning the title in 1998, finishing runner-up in 2000 and 2002 (to Lindsay Davenport and Daniela Hantuchova, respectively), falling in the semifinals in 2001 and last year (to Kim Clijsters and Sharapova, respectively) and in 1999 notching her worst career performance at the event with a quarterfinal finish to Chanda Rubin (a result that would probably be very desirable to most other players). Since her comeback the Swiss Miss has also shown she is still one of the top threats at the Tier I level, capturing Rome last year and Tokyo [Pan Pacific] last month. She begins in the second round against either Jarmila Gajdosova or wild card Caroline Wozniacki.

Kuznetsova's alotted semifinal foe is No.4-seed Nadia Petrova. Petrova was in spectacular form last year, winning her second through sixth career titles, and has already added to that tally this year with a victory at Paris [Indoors]. She also won her last meeting with Kuznetsova, en route to her last title of 2006 at Stuttgart. Petrova has fallen before the quarterfinals in all three prior main draws here. She will begin against Gisela Dulko or Aleksandra Wozniak.

Three more Top 10 players, namely Elena Dementieva, Nicole Vaidisova and Jelena Jankovic, are seeded No.5, No.6 and No.7. While Vaidisova and Jankovic are looking to make their first solid runs at this event (the Czech fell in the third round in her only prior appearance, while the Serb has never been beyond the second round), Dementieva looks to continue her solid form of years past at this year's event; the Russian is 20-6 lifetime in the desert, her most impressive showing coming one year ago with a run to the final (she beat Henin along the way, falling to Sharapova). She has also been a semifinalist twice, in 2000 and 2005. Dementieva could have the toughest opener of the three, a potential second round encounter against recent Pattaya City champion Sybille Bammer.

Also among the Top 16 seeds are two players who recently spent some time at No.10 in the world, Anna Chakvetadze and Dinara Safina, who are the No.8 and No.9 seeds. Former champ Daniela Hantuchova is also among the seeds.

Since being promoted to Tier I status in 1997, Indian Wells has been somewhat dominated by a handful of names. Davenport, Clijsters and Serena Williams (none of which are entered this year) have each won it twice, with one-time winners being Hingis, Henin, Hantuchova and Sharapova. The runners-up in seven of the last 10 stagings have also come from that group, the exceptions being Irina Spirlea (1997), Steffi Graf (1999) and Dementieva (last year). (WTA)