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Page 2
Hopefully things have all changed for the better. It has been six long and torturous and demoralising years but things are finally picking up. There is no doubt that Jennifer can potentially be among the world's top 20 if she can keep going the way she did in the past week. Can she return to the top 10? Anything is possible, but it must be said that this is only just a small stepping stone. There is much she is still yet to achieve. The tour has changed since her hey-days and she may not have the powerful game to compete with the big-hitting Lindsay Davenport, Venus and Serena Williams, Mary Pierce, and even Monica Seles and Steffi Graf, her long time on-court foes. With the Strasbourg title - her 7th career title - Jennifer jumps back into the top 100 at #53, her highest ranking in over a year and a half, and earns US$27,500 for her weeklong efforts. One thing is for sure - it is really nice to have Capriati back on tour like the big-hitting, confident player she used to be! Hopefully, this form can continue on through the French Open in which she faces a potential third round clash with 14th seed Amanda Coetzer.
And as so many of us like to do come Grand Slam time is analyse the draws and predict the outcomes. Like many soothsayers before me, I've been correct on occasion, and I've also been disastrously wrong on others. One thing I hope I'm correct in predicting is to find Monica Seles repeating last year's efforts and reaching the final. She hasn't played in a while, but the last time she did play, she was absolutely on fire, having won the tournament at Amelia Island on clay, and leading USA to victory in Fed Cup over Croatia. She has a pretty tough draw to contend with in the later rounds, with eigth seed Mary Pierce in the quarter finals and either sixth seed Steffi Graf or second seed Lindsay Davenport in the semi finals. What's good about tennis is that it is so hard to predict just who will win, and any one of these four players has just as much chance as the next to reach the final from their half of the draw. From the top half of the draw, one would definitely have to go with top seed Martina Hingis - she has the game to beat just about anyone, especially on clay. Surprisingly, the clay court major has been the only major to elude her. It will be a tall order for Hingis to reach the finals as she faces a tough draw, both in the first week and potentially in the second week. She is one half of the marquee match up of the second round against Amelie Mauresmo, and it's anyone's guess who will come out of that one alive! Given she beats Mauresmo, Hingis will likely face fifth seed Venus Williams in the quarter finals, which will be far from easy, given Williams' current form and the fact that she defeated Hingis in three sets three weeks ago in Rome. A possible semi final encounter could pit Hingis against Serena Williams, the first time she would meet Serena in a later round of a tournament than she would Venus. Of course, then there's the possibility of an all Williams' semi final, which stands as one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament. However, I don't predict Serena to make it this far, not unless defending champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario has something to say about it. It hasn't been a great year for her, having lacked the confidence she needs to play her physical game and also hosting a bout of injuries which have kept her away from the tour. But she is slowly getting her groove back and in her last few clay court tournaments, she has looked as hungry as the normal Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario is. Plus, she is the only one who can boast of four straight wins against Serena Williams, her likely fourth round opponent - no one on tour has achieved that feat yet, and considering Serena's success this year, this is an incredible feat!
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