Venus Headlines WTA Tokyo
Posted on October 1, 2007
TOKYO, Japan -- The fourth week of this year's Asian swing will see six of the world's Top 50 head for Tokyo to battle it out for the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships. Venus Williams is top seed at the $175,000, Tier III event and after her success in Seoul she will be hoping to record back-to-back title runs when she heads across the Sea of Japan.
Williams will be making her debut appearance at the Ariake Colosseum and after triumphing at last week's Hansol Korea Open, she will be confident of notching up her third title of 2007 in the Japanese capital. The 27-year-old American struggled with injuries and inconsistency for the first half of the year, but her season finally burst into life at the All England Club when she stormed through the draw to capture her sixth Grand Slam title. Since then Williams has racked up a 15-2 win-loss record and she will get her campaign up and running with an opening round clash against compatriot and 2002 champion Jill Craybas.
However, Williams is likely to face some stiff opposition for the title, particularly from the No.2 seed, Sania Mirza. The Indian starlet enjoyed a promising summer on the North American hardcourts, finishing runner-up in Stanford as well as embarking upon semifinal and quarterfinal runs in Cincinnati and San Diego respectively. These successes have seen the 20-year-old break into the Top 30 for the first time in her career and if this rich vein of form is maintained for the duration of the week, she has every chance of improving on the semifinal finish she achieved back in 2005.
Another player likely to have a considerable say in the destination of the trophy, is the No.3 seed and Williams' victim in Sunday's Seoul final, Maria Kirilenko. After a disappointing first half of the year, the 20-year-old Muscovite has come into her own since the start of the summer hardcourt season, winning 18 of her last 23 matches -- highlighted by a second career title in Kolkata.
The remaining seeds this week are comprised of home favorite and two time AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships winner Ai Sugiyama (No.4), last week's Guanghou champion Virginie Razzano (No.5), Japan's Akiko Morigami (No.6), 2006 runner-up Aiko Nakamura (No.7) and gifted Italian Flavia Pennetta (No.8). There are also several dark horses lurking in the draw, including the talented teenage trio of Ayumi Morita, Urszula Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki.
This is the 26th staging of the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships, although neither of the past two champions has entered this year. 2005 winner Nicole Vaidisova is currently recuperating from a viral infection, while 2006 victor Marion Bartoli has elected to play in Stuttgart this week. Several other stellar names have also lifted the trophy in the past, including Maria Sharapova (2003, 2004), Monica Seles (2001), Kimiko Date (1992, 1993, 1994, 1996) and Gabriela Sabatini (1985). The winner of this year's title will take home $25,840, while the runner-up will receive $13,520.
-- WTA Tour
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