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Jana on a roll, Steffi on her comeback

© Michael Cecilio

So, do I have anything to say for the fortnight straight after Wimbledon?! Not a whole lot really, although it should be said that Jana Novotna is still on a mighty run, she's won three straight titles already, Eastbourne, Wimbledon and now the Czech Open in her home country!! Could she be on her way to #1 at 29 years of age? Well, she's oozing in confidence right now and she looks set to win many more titles, this title accounting for her 23rd career title. Patty Schnyder looks set to get the Chase Player of the Month award for July as she has now won two titles within a week - Styria Open and International Tournament - and now has a WTA tour leading five titles for the year - surpassing Wimbledon champ Jana Novotna and Fed Cup teammate and co-Swiss Miss Martina Hingis. In absolutely unbeatable form with a 10-match winning streak, both tournament wins push Patty Schnyder on the brink of entering the Top 10 for the first time in her young but successful career, and also make her the tenth biggest money earner on the WTA Tour so far this year. The third and final tournament winner for this fortnight on the WTA tour is Conchita Martinez at the Warsaw Cup, giving her a 30th career singles title and an improvement on her claycourt record to 17-4. Also one more thing - welcome back Jennifer Capriati! It will be a long and windy road back to the top echelon of tennis but hopefully you'll get there, Jennifer! She reached the quarter finals of the tournament in Palermo, complementing a quarter final appearance at the Tier II event in Hamburg a couple of months back when she lost to Martina Hingis.

By the way, aside from the WTA events was the A&P Classic in USA, an exhibition event which has seen a lot of big names pull out, namely Anna Kournikova from her thumb injury sustained in England, and Mirjana Lucic from illness related to the chicken pox she had a couple of weeks before the French. Anyway, Jana Novotna lost in the semi-finals to Amanda Coetzer (her first loss in a LONG time) 6-3 7-6 (7-5) and Steffi Graf had a tougher time in her semi-final against Fang Li, victorious with a 3-6 6-2 6-2 win. So, it was back to the famous rivalry of 1997 between Amanda Coetzer and Steffi Graf in the final of the exhibition tournament. Remember, Amanda has won the past three meetings against Steffi, all of them last year, including the meeting where Amanda handed Steffi her worst loss on the tour in eight years 6-0 6-1 at the 1997 French Open quarter finals. However, in the end, to the surprise of some, including myself, Steffi Graf pulled out her first tournament victory of the year! While not an official tournament victory, it was still an important stepping stone in her recovery from knee surgery last year. The 6-3 6-3 win over Amanda Coetzer shows that Steffi is slowly but surely on her way back, and hopefully this time, is here to stay. It also consolidates her name in the A&P Classic books as she is the only player to have ever won the title more than twice, and Steffi here has won the title six of the seven times she has competed (she lost the 1985 final as a 17 year old).

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