California Dreamin': Top Stars Gearing Up …

看板Hantuchova作者okk (不要再拿銀盤了)時間21年前 (2004/03/09 23:29)推噓0(0推 0噓 0→)

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INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - The world's top tennis players are making their way to California for the year's second Tier I event on the WTA Tour - the Pacific Life Open. Thirteen of the Top 20 players in the world will journey to Indian Wells in pursuit of a share of the $2.1 million in prize money. Defending champion Kim Clijsters will look to add another Pacific Life Open title to her repertoire of 2004 titles. The World No.2 has already claimed two titles so far this year - triumphing for the first time in her native country by winning Antwerp and also winning the prior week at the Open Gaz de France in Paris. She has a 14-1 record with her only loss coming in the finals of this year's Australian Open. Last year, Clijsters didn't have too many problems marching to the title - dropping only one set in six matches. Her toughest test came in the fourth round against Nathalie Dechy, whom defeated the Belgian in the second round the previous year. Dechy took the second set before Clijsters recovered to take the match. From there, Clijsters scored straight set victories against Chanda Rubin, Conchita Martinez and two-time winner Lindsay Davenport in the final. After a one-year hiatus, World No.1 Justine Henin-Hardenne will return to Indian Wells looking for her fourth title of the year. Before last week's semifinal loss to Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Qatar Total Open, Henin-Hardenne was virtually unstoppable. She's captured titles in Sydney, the Australian Open and Dubai and has a 16-1 record. In her last visit to Indian Wells, Henin-Hardenne was upset in the quarterfinals by eventual champion Daniela Hantuchova, 63 63. Hantuchova captured many hearts and the attention of the tennis world with her victory at the Tier I event, but the young Slovakian hasn't had the same success since. Despite rising as high as No.5 in the World early in 2003, Hantuchova hasn't won another singles title, didn't reach a final last year and only reached the semifinals once last year. Her reign as defending champion came to a close last year in the fourth round where she lost to Amanda Coetzer in straight sets. As one of only five women to ever capture the Pacific Life Open more than once, Lindsay Davenport will return to the California desert in search of that elusive third title. Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Mary Joe Fernandez, Serena Williams and Davenport have all won the tournament twice, but no player has ever been able to grab the title of three-time champion. Davenport has been close to another title on two separate occasions. As the defending 1997 champion, she almost won back-to-back titles in 1998 before losing to Martina Hingis in the final. She avenged that loss to Hingis two years later by defeating the Swiss player for the 2000 title and almost captured title No.3 last year before falling to Clijsters in the final. -- ---禪心已作沾泥絮，莫向春風舞鷓鴣--- -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.118.122.149 -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.118.122.149 ※ 編輯: okk 來自: 140.118.122.149 (03/09 15:36)