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It Ain't Over Till It's Over

© Michael Cecilio

Officially, the WTA draws to a close with the conclusion of the Chase Championships. However, the honour for the concluder of women's tennis for the season goes to the Fed Cup. By revamping the schedule and the format of the team event, the Fed Cup features two best-of-three rubber semi finals and the best-of-five rubber final in the same week. This year, the USA hosts the Fed Cup World Finals on an indoor court in Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas, hosting teams from Spain, Belgium and Czech Republic who look to provide some quality tennis over the four days of play.

FED CUP FINAL: USA versus SPAIN
Match predictions for Friday November 24, 2000

MONICA SELES (USA,4) vs. CONCHITA MARTINEZ (ESP,5)
Head-to-Head Series: SELES leads 18-1
Last Meeting: 2000 Amelia Island FL (Clay), SELES d. MARTINEZ 6-3 6-2
Indoor Head-to-Head Series: SELES leads 4-0
Last Indoor Meeting: 1996 Fed Cup FL R1, SELES d. MARTINEZ 6-2 6-4
Three Set Head-to-Head Record: SELES leads 1-0
You don’t need to be a statistician to realise that the numbers are with Seles. Just as players like Hingis and Davenport continue to hold Seles’s number, Seles herself has Martinez’s number, winning their past five matches in straight sets. What’s more, Seles is in fantastic form, capping off a brilliant year with a stirring performance at the Chase Championships. With Seles in form and the indoor surface favouring the hard-hitting, hard-serving baseliner in this encounter, Martinez is going to have her hands full trying to find a winning formula against the American in the first rubber of the final. Her variety of spins, speeds and directions do not throw Monica off as much as they would another player as Monica takes the ball early enough not to let the ball jump on her and she does not lose any ground to Conchtia as she remains aggressive despite the continual change in tactics by the Spaniard. I am eager to see what Martinez comes up with in this match in order to throw Seles off her game and force the unforced errors. She won’t like having lost to Seles in 18 of their last 19 matches and will want her revenge sooner or later and with her coach sitting by the sidelines, perhaps Martinez can employ different tactics against Seles. However, it seems that especially on the fast surface, it is going to be tough for Conchita to keep up with Monica’s pace. Meanwhile, I am interested to see whether Monica is fit enough and has recovered from the stomach problem she had in her match against Belgium, which saw her blow a 5-0 lead in the first set before taking it 7-1 in the tiebreak. Conchita is going to have to rely on Monica making enough unforced errors while Monica is going to have to keep the points short, take the ball early and let ‘er rip! While Monica is the favourite, I don’t necessarily see Conchita going down too easily. She is a feisty fighter who will want nothing more than to win the Fed Cup for her country and would love to do it by getting her revenge on a player who has dominated her like no other on the tour.

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