Someone who has also showed a little bit of promise in the past week was Anna Kournikova, who reached the quarter finals, losing to Venus Williams. In the two matches she played, Anna displayed some newfound patience in her groundstrokes and appears to be a little more focused and mentally tougher. In her first round match against Mirjana Lucic, the Croatian gave Kournikova a model in impatient tennis, as an error-riddled Lucic conceded to Anna for the second straight time in two career matches. Against the wily veteran Mary Joe Fernandez, Anna was not allowed to display any impatience or any emotional outbursts, remaining consistent and focused for a great deal of the match.
It must be said that the Stanford tournament displayed a showcase of depth within the 28 player draw. When you have got players such as Spirlea and Rubin doing battle in the first round, not to mention Capriati versus Martinez, Kournikova versus Lucic, Testud versus Majoli, and Likhovtseva versus Schnyder - all merely vying for a place in the second round - you know you've got an incredible draw on your hands. What's more is that the tournament in San Diego looks to be even better, showcasing 17 of the top 20 players in the world! Now how's that for a draw!
Welcome to the Williams' Show
Certainly, Richard Williams has his shortcomings, but when it comes to his daughters, he knows it all. And he is not afraid to broadcast it to the world. "Welcome to the Williams' Show", that familiar banner Mr. Williams displayed to the spectators at the Lipton Championships final this year, of course, featuring two of the brightest prospects in the game who incidentally happen to be sisters.
Four months later and half a world away, that banner would still have applied in the Fed Cup semi final between the USA and Italy in Ancona. What was meant to be an American showdown against Italy completely transformed itself into the Williams showdown against Italy as they accounted for all four victories to take the USA into the Fed Cup finals.
The Italians knew they were in for a tough task if they were to upset the heavily favoured USA team, let alone account themselves for a rubber or two. In their favour was the home court advantage, which allowed them to choose the surface and also gave them the crowd support, a motivating feature of Fed Cup tennis. The slow clay courts in Ancona, together with the slow paced heavy balls, would boost the Italian team's morale, albeit only on the surface, as they attempted to dampen the power baseline games of the USA team.
