Sucks to be Hingis...second round match vs. Huber or Majoli (who meet in
the first round--ouch), third round match against Mauresmo, and a
quarterfinal match up with Seles does NOT bode well for her chances to
repeat as a champ...
Capriati had the piss-poor luck to draw Novotna as her first round
opponent. Novotna has almost single-handedly stopped JenCap's comeback.
Yes, I AM prone to hyperbole, but think about it...when Capriati was
reaching tournament finals and semifinals a year or so back, she was
always losing to Novotna...even after a great win over Seles.
The women's draw lacks some of the drama that the men's draw does...
Novotna's section features Serena Williams (I just don't see her being
a huge threat to Jana), Spirlea, Patty Schnyder, Mary Joe Fernandez,
Lucic, and Graf. The ideal quarterfinal pairing would be Novotna v.
Graf...Schyder looks to be the most likely spoiler.
Venus has a pretty terrific draw. She'll get the victor of Magui Serna v.
Mary Pierce in Rd of 16--this should be a test for her. The other big
match-up in this part of the draw would be Kournikova v. Sanchez Vicario,
and I don't see anyone seriously threatening to prevent this from
happening...A Williams v. Kournikova quarter would be the best for the
game, but ASV has been strong throughout the year...
In the bottom-est part of the draw, Conchita and Lindsay are seeded to
clash...Conchita's chief challenges would appear to be from Zvereva
(who has beaten her on hardcourts before) or Coetzer. Zvereva meets
Raymond in the first round...Raymond played a good match against Martinez
in Fed Cup, and either Zvereva or Raymond could advance in this relatively
weak part of the draw to the quarterfinals...Davenport SHOULD do well,
especially with the HOT summer she's had. McNeil, Tara Snyder, Chanda
Rubin, and, of course Natalie Tauziat might be threats...Lindsay should
easily advance to the quarters, and to the semi's...
As far as the draw goes, Hingis definetly got a raw deal...
--
Byron P. McCrae
Coordinator, Office of LGBT Student Services
New York University
212 998-4424 (phone)
212 995-4116 (fax)