Key Stats

• 12/13 winners and 22/26 finalists since 1997 have reached the quarter-finals or better of their last tournament.
• 11/13 winners since 1997 have won a hard court title that year.
• 9/13 winners have won an outdoor hard court Tier-One tournament that year; Miami, Indian Wells, Rogers Cup, and San Diego/Cincinnati since 2004. This year’s winners are Jelena Jankovic, Kim Clijsters (two) and Caroline Wozniacki.
• 11/13 winners had won at least two outdoor hard court titles that year. This year Anastasia Pavyluchenkova and Kim Clijsters are the only players to have done so.
• 24/26 finalists have been seeded, with 18 being top-four seeds.
• Kim Clijsters has won four of her seven outdoor hard court tournaments back to last year’s US Open; the US Open, Brisbane, Miami, and Cincinnati.

Quarter One

With Serena Williams not playing Caroline Wozniacki has become the top seed, and she’s been given a terrible draw. A fourth round clash with Maria Sharapova would certainly not lack glamour but if the Russian’s serve holds together it could prove an early exit for the Danish star, as she’s been beaten in straight sets in all four of their previous meetings.

Both women are in superb form right now, but if they get past that match they may well face another in-form Russian, with Svetlana Kuznetsova having won recently in San Diego. Furthermore, eight of the last 13 US Open champions had claimed a hard court title in California in the warm up for New York. However, Wozniacki and Sharapova have knocked the 2004 champion out of her last two events.

Quarter Two

Jelena Jankovic has landed a great draw, but given her current form of four defeats in five matches that probably won’t help. Yanina Wickmayer reached the semis here a year and more recently the quarters in Cincinnati, and while she’s been generally inconsistent recently she should benefit from the draw and reach the quarter-finals.

Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva reached the final in Montreal in her last event and is looking dangerous, but will have to get past Agnieszka Radwanska who reached the final in San Diego and has excelled on outdoor hard courts in the past year. Whoever, wins out of these two should go on to win the quarter.

Quarter Three

This quarter looks wide open, with Venus Williams having been injured since Wimbledon and having made just one semi-final showing here since 2002. The next highest seed is French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, but that one-off success has given her a higher ranking than she truly merits and the players with the greatest title claims in this section are Anastasia Pavyluchenkova and Victoria Azarenka.

Both players had stellar junior records and are in good form with Pavyluchenkova having won in Istanbul and reaching the semis in Cincy. Furthermore, she beat Venus twice last year. Meanwhile, Azarenka won in Stanford and while she retired from the semis in Montreal she wasn’t suffering from anything that’ll cause her a problem over the next fortnight. However, these two should meet in the third round and the Belarussian will expect to advance.

Quarter Four

Defending champion Kim Clijsters has little to worry her in this quarter with Marion Bartoli her scheduled fourth round opponent followed by Sam Stosur in the quarters. Bartoli has reached the quarters in her last three events and is playing well but lacks the game to beat Clijsters if she is playing well. In contrast Stosur has been largely out of sorts since making the final of the French Open and won just three points against Nadia Petrova last week in New Haven.

Our View

Three players best match the winners profile and are in good current form; Pavyluchenkova, Wozniacki and Clijsters. However, Wozniacki’s draw makes her price unappealing while Pavyluchenkova is probably not ready to lift a major title. Meanwhile, Clijsters couldn’t have asked for a better draw and having won four of her seven outdoor hard court tournaments back to last year’s US Open – US Open, Brisbane, Miami, and Cincinnati – she looks a good value favourite in a tournament that has seen her lift the trophy on her last two visits and reach the final the time before.



Recommendation: Clijsters to win at 5.0, Sporting Bet
                                   Agnieszka Radwanska to win 2nd Quarter at 6.0, Sky Bet
                                   Anastasia Pavyluchenkova to win 3rd Quarter at 10.0, Sky Bet