[溫網]Ladies' Singles Preview
Thursday, 16 June, 2005
Defending champion Maria Sharapova of Russia faces demanding
tests in The Championships with the two Grand Slam winners of
2005 both in her half of the draw.
Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, who won the French title
earlier this month, and former Wimbledon champion Serena Williams
of the USA, who won the Australian Open in January, ae set to meet
in the quarter-finals - with the winner seeded to face Sharapova
in the last four.
Despite winning at Wimbledon for the first time last year the
18-year-old Sharapova is second seed in the 2005 Championships
and will begin the defence of her title on the Centre Court
against the Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives who reached the
second round last year.
In the second round, Sharapova is due to play the Bulgarian teenager
Sesil Karatantcheva who defeated former Wimbledon champion Venus
Williams in the second round of the French Open and took her
unseeded challenge all the way to the quarter finals before being
stopped by Elena Likhovtseva of Russia. By the quarter-final stage,
Sharapova should be anticipating a match against the eighth seed
Nadia Petrova of Russia who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon
last year.
Sharapova's ability to produce shock results was underscored last
year but defending the title may prove more arduous in the later
stages.
Justine Henin-Hardenne, runner up at Wimbledon four years ago,
begins against Eleni Daniilidou of Greece and can look ahead to
the last 16 and expect a repeat of the French final against Mary
Pierce. Henin-Hardenne defeated Pierce easily in Paris and then
withdrew from competition for two weeks to prepare herself
physically for the differing demands of Wimbledon.
Serena Williams, twice champion, opens against fellow American
Angela Haynes while her sister Venus Williams, seeded 14th, begins
against a qualifier. The Wiliams sisters have a massive heritage
of success at Wimbledon with two titles each and if they continue
to win they will stage yet another meeting at Wimbledon. They played
successive finals in 2002 and 2003 with Serena Williams winning both.
Top seeded Lindsay Davenport, 29, is playing at Wimbledon for the
12th time. She was champion in 1999 and runner up in 2000 and now
the Californian faces using her vast experience of major championships
to justify herseeding. Her first round match is against the Russian
Alina Jidkova and the draw dictates that Kim Clijsters of Belgium who
missed the Championships last year after injuring her wrist, will be
facing her in the last 16.
Clijsters opens against British wild card Katie O'Brien and although
she has a strong record in the other three Grand Slam championships,
with final appearances at Roland Garros, the US Open and the Australian
Open, she has not been beyond the semi-finals at Wimbledon.
Davenport can expect to play fifth seed and US Open champion Svetlana
Kuznetsova of Russia in the quarter-finals, a stage where Kutnetsova's
best challenge at Wimbledon ended two years ago.
Amelie Mauresmo of France, third seed this time,is due to be Davenport's
semi-final opponent.Mauresmo also has projected Russian opposition in
the quarter finals where Elena Dementieva is at sixth seed. Mauresmo
hasreached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in her past two championships
and last year was within sight of her first final before being overtaken
by Serena Williams.
Mauresmo opens against the Argentine Paola Suarez who was a quarter
finalist at Wimbledon last year and should play the Croatian Karolina
Sprem, also a quarter finalist last year, in the last 32.
Elana Baltacha, Britain's highest ranked woman, plays a qualifier in
her first match and if she progresses through that test the next opponent
is due to be Dementieva.
Written by Barry Newcombe
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