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Saying goodbye again - Page 6

© Michael Cecilio

For the second year in a row, it seemed as if the Compaq Grand Slam Cup was trying to emulate the US Open draw. Last year's 8-player draw was virtually identical to the US Open quarter finals, save for the Monica Seles omission, and this year was not much different either. Hingis drew Amelie Mauresmo, who could have met her in the US Open quarter finals had Mauresmo gotten past Anke Huber in the fourth round. Venus drew Barbara Schett, and beat her in almost identical circumstances as in the US Open quarter finals. Instead of Seles, Serena Williams drew Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, against whom she recorded just her second victory in six career matches. And finally, Lindsay Davenport drew Mary Pierce, repeating the electric encounter they had in their US Open quarter final match when Pierce stretched Davenport to three incredibly tough sets (again, Pierce squandered a lead in the deciding set).

Exactly like the US Open were the semi final slots: Martina versus Venus and Serena versus Lindsay. It was the first time since Wimbledon 1992 when all top 4 ranked players in the world had reached the semi finals of the same tournament, when #1 Monica Seles, #2 Steffi Graf, #3 Gabriela Sabatina and 34 Martina Navratilova all made it to the final four. The results were somewhat different however. Venus came out the strong one in the beginning and made Martina do all the fighting this time around. While they repeated their electrifying semi final as at the US Open, it was Venus who came out the victor in a tight 9-7 win in the third set - both players squandering chances to finish off the match much earlier. Serena, this time round, had a much easier time in handling the power of Lindsay, mainly because Lindsay was having uncharacteristic difficulty in keeping her penetrating groundstrokes in play.

Despite the success of the tournament and the incredible matches on display, the viability of the Compaq Grand Slam Cup is still in question. The purpose of the tournament is still debatable - there are no ranking points at stake, and simply offers lucrative monetary rewards for the participants. Unfortunately, we may have seen the last of the Grand Slam Cup, at least in its current form.

The tournament Hingis owns
Martina Hingis absolutely loves the Porsche Grand Prix in Filderstadt, Germany. She has played in this tournament every year of her professional career (six years and counting), using this tournament as a site for her professional debut in October 1994, and winning her first pro title here in 1996. The love affair continued when she successfully defended her first title in 1997, and the love affair continues as she has just recently won her third in what may be a long line of Filderstadt tournament titles.

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