Post by tall_one on Aug 3, 2004 0:05:43 GMT
Intense Hard Court Swing Continues in Montreal
from wta website
MONTREAL - After three weeks of intense play under the hot California sun, the stars of the WTA Tour have worked their way north of the border and on to Montreal for this week's Tier I action at the Rogers Cup.
A very competitive lineup will be featured at the $1.3 million dollar event, including 12 of the top 20 players in the world.
One of the missing top 20 will allow the field of 56 to finally breathe a sigh of relief this week, as the scorching-hot Lindsay Davenport has decided to take a break from torturing her fellow WTA Tour players and rest up for the remainder of the hard court season. Davenport has been virtually unstoppable in a three-week run on the Tour, reaching three straight finals and taking a commanding lead in the Porsche Race to the Championships.
2001 champion Serena Williams was forced to withdraw from the event on Sunday due to left knee inflammation. Serena withdrew from last week's Acura Classic in San Diego shortly before her quarterfinal match due to problems with her left knee. After having an MRI performed on Friday and consulting with her doctors, Serena decided it was best to rest her knee instead of competing in Montreal.
2002 winner Amelie Mauresmo returns to Montreal and this time she's looking to shed an early round loss in San Diego. Mauresmo was bounced out of California last week by Alicia Molik in straight sets - the first time she had lost before the quarterfinals at any tournament this year.
Mauresmo is the most recent champion in Montreal and looks to get back on the winning track in her second round match where she'll face either Tamarine Tanasugarn or Marta Marrero.
No.3 seed Anastasia Myskina survived the longest third set tiebreak in wTA Tour history in San Diego and now she looks to survive a week of intense play in Canada to reach her second straight final. The Roland Garros champion, who made it to the final in San Diego, will seek her third title of the year this week and begins her bid against either Arantxa Parra Santonja or a qualifier in the second round.
Other top seeds who could be hoisting the hardware next Sunday include No.4 Elena Dementieva, No.5 Jennifer Capriati and No.6 Maria Sharapova, who took a wildcard over the last week to compete at the event.
Last year's Rogers Cup winner in Toronto, Justine Henin-Hardenne, announced two weeks ago that she would be unable to defend her title while recovering from an illness that has kept her away from tennis for much of the last four months. The world's top player will attempt to make her return to tennis at the US Open later this month.
This is the 29th year the Rogers Cup has been played as the largest women's tennis event in Canada. The tournament, which rotates every other year between Montreal and Toronto, has featured some of the biggest names in professional tennis as its former champions, including Evonne Goolagong, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Pam Shriver, Gabriela Sabatini, Steffi Graf, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and four-time winner Monica Seles.
from wta website
MONTREAL - After three weeks of intense play under the hot California sun, the stars of the WTA Tour have worked their way north of the border and on to Montreal for this week's Tier I action at the Rogers Cup.
A very competitive lineup will be featured at the $1.3 million dollar event, including 12 of the top 20 players in the world.
One of the missing top 20 will allow the field of 56 to finally breathe a sigh of relief this week, as the scorching-hot Lindsay Davenport has decided to take a break from torturing her fellow WTA Tour players and rest up for the remainder of the hard court season. Davenport has been virtually unstoppable in a three-week run on the Tour, reaching three straight finals and taking a commanding lead in the Porsche Race to the Championships.
2001 champion Serena Williams was forced to withdraw from the event on Sunday due to left knee inflammation. Serena withdrew from last week's Acura Classic in San Diego shortly before her quarterfinal match due to problems with her left knee. After having an MRI performed on Friday and consulting with her doctors, Serena decided it was best to rest her knee instead of competing in Montreal.
2002 winner Amelie Mauresmo returns to Montreal and this time she's looking to shed an early round loss in San Diego. Mauresmo was bounced out of California last week by Alicia Molik in straight sets - the first time she had lost before the quarterfinals at any tournament this year.
Mauresmo is the most recent champion in Montreal and looks to get back on the winning track in her second round match where she'll face either Tamarine Tanasugarn or Marta Marrero.
No.3 seed Anastasia Myskina survived the longest third set tiebreak in wTA Tour history in San Diego and now she looks to survive a week of intense play in Canada to reach her second straight final. The Roland Garros champion, who made it to the final in San Diego, will seek her third title of the year this week and begins her bid against either Arantxa Parra Santonja or a qualifier in the second round.
Other top seeds who could be hoisting the hardware next Sunday include No.4 Elena Dementieva, No.5 Jennifer Capriati and No.6 Maria Sharapova, who took a wildcard over the last week to compete at the event.
Last year's Rogers Cup winner in Toronto, Justine Henin-Hardenne, announced two weeks ago that she would be unable to defend her title while recovering from an illness that has kept her away from tennis for much of the last four months. The world's top player will attempt to make her return to tennis at the US Open later this month.
This is the 29th year the Rogers Cup has been played as the largest women's tennis event in Canada. The tournament, which rotates every other year between Montreal and Toronto, has featured some of the biggest names in professional tennis as its former champions, including Evonne Goolagong, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Pam Shriver, Gabriela Sabatini, Steffi Graf, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and four-time winner Monica Seles.
