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This past fortnight has really been dominated by the American women players. First, we saw them play an unsuccessful Fed Cup semi-final tie in Spain, and then we saw a Tier II event in California where three of the top four seeds were American and who had all made the semi-final stage. Leading the American women in the rankings is Lindsay Davenport at no. 3 but not too far behind are Venus Williams, who has entered the Top 5 this week for the first time in her career at no. 5, and Monica Seles, who has fallen slightly to no. 6 but in my opinion, looks set to jump into the Top 3 by year's end. Anyway, let's take a look at the major happenings this week on the ITF Women's Circuit and the WTA Circuit.
All Fed Cup Semi-Final Play this year was played on clay courts and it's not surprising that this was the case, seeing as it was Spain and Switzerland - European countries which are always renowned for their clay court prowess - hosting their respective Fed Cup ties. And seeing as they were the countries which chose the playing surface and had most of the grandstand support, it wasn't a surprise to see that they were the countries that prevailed in order to reach the finals of this prestigious event. From the beginning, it seemed as if Switzerland was destined to win its semi-final tie against France - heck, I'd say that the Swiss have a great opportunity to go all the way this year for the first time in Fed Cup history! Even before play began, France were severely disadvantaged when its top two clay courters, world no. 14 Mary Pierce and world no. 13 Sandrine Testud, were not declared for the tie against Switzerland. We know of Fed Cup captain Yannick Noah's ambivalence towards Mary Pierce, eliminating her from the Fed Cup this year because he was unhappy with her attitude towards Fed Cup play (of course, despite the fact that Mary was an instrumental factor in France's Fed Cup victory last year). Meanwhile, instrumental towards France's defence of the Fed Cup this year was Sandrine Testud, who unfortunately was obliged to pull out because of an ankle injury - an injury which prevented her from defending her International Palermo Tournament title the week before. So, France was left with its top-ranked French player and recent Wimbledon finalist, Nathalie Tauziat to pick up the pieces. Nathalie, however, did not at all possess the game for clay as she evidently does on grass. Thus, France was left with a rather weak team in no. 37 Julie Halard-Decugis, and rising star, 19-year-old no. 32 Amelie Mauresmo, to play singles; and Alexandra Fusai and Nathalie Tauziat (two of the most efficient doubles players in the world) to play the doubles rubber. Not bad, you say? Well, compare this to the strongest Swiss team in years! You've got the indisputable no. 1 player in the world in Martina Hingis, leading the tour with 45 match wins this year and the no. 11 Patty Schnyder who leads the tour with five tournament titles this year, playing the singles rubbers for Switzerland; and Patty Schnyder and Emanuelle Gagliardi to play the doubles rubber. Hmmm, I wonder who would win ... surprise surprise! It was the Swiss! =) All in all, the French managed to capture three of the thirteen sets played in the tie - two of them belonged to Amelie Mauresmo in the singles! Now, in my article for the German Open, I believed Amelie to become a major force in the tennis world in the near future. She cemented my sentiments when she first took Patty Schnyder - a clay court specialist - to a three set showdown, and more importantly, took the no. 1 Martina Hingis not only to three sets, but actually led 7-6 4-1 at one stage of the match before Martina raised her level of play! WOW! To be able to do that to the no. 1 player in the world! Martina was obviously so perplexed by the standard of Amelie's game that tension brewed between Martina and Swiss team captain Melanie Molitor (or Martina's mum) when Martina threw a towel on her mum's face during a changeover! Anyway, not at all surprisingly, the Swiss took the tie with general ease to a clean 5-0 sweep.
The copyright of the article Americans on a roll at Stanford; not so successful in Fed Cup in Women's Tennis is owned by . Permission to republish Americans on a roll at Stanford; not so successful in Fed Cup in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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