Red-yellow finale

The final women's tournament started in Madrid

The eight participants in the final BTA championship, where $3 million is at stake, included three Russians - Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anna Chakvetadze and Maria Sharapova. All eight athletes who will take to the courts in Madrid this week are divided into two groups - “yellow” and “red” - according to the colors of the Spanish flag. According to the draw held the day before, the “yellow” quartet consisted of Justine Henin from Belgium, Anna Chakvetadze, Jelena Jankovic from Serbia and American Serena Williams. The “red” four included Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova, Anna Ivanovich from Serbia and Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova.

Of the three Russian tennis players, a difficult lot fell to Anna Chakvetadze, who, in a successful scenario - one of our girls reaching the finals - will have to fight with the first racket of the world, Justine Henin, before the rest. Before this, the athletes faced each other twice, and Enin won both times with the same score - 6:2, 6:3. A year ago, the Belgian beat the Russian at Wimbledon, and this year at the tournament in Miami. Justine approached the final championship in excellent shape, as evidenced by her unbeaten streak of 20 matches. In addition, she has nine championship titles this season, including two victories at Grand Slam tournaments - at Roland Garros and the US Open.

Chakvetadze’s track record looks much more modest: the Russian has four victories, which allowed her to book a place in the top ten tennis players. True, the end of the season was somewhat blurred by the Muscovite, losing twice in the second round at tournaments in Stuttgart and Moscow, as well as in the quarterfinals in Linz.

In relation to other rivals, the statistics look much more preferable for Chakvetadze. The score of personal meetings with Elena Yankovic is 5:2 in favor of the 20-year-old Muscovite. This year, tennis players scored one victory: Jankovic won in Warsaw, and Chakvetadze won in 's-Hertogenbosch. As for Serena Williams, Anna has not played with this tennis player yet. On the eve of the final championship, the American spent a rather intense period of play - in Stuttgart she lost to Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals, in Moscow she lost to Dementieva in the final, and in Zurich she sheathed her racket in the first round, losing to Patti Schnyder from Switzerland.

If in the “yellow” group there is an undisputed leader - Justine Henin, then in the “red” it is problematic to say anything definite, namely which of the athletes will be able to make it to the finals. Svetlana Kuznetsova announced at the Kremlin Cup that she was having one of the best seasons in her career. According to the tennis player, her main trump card was stability. If we talk about Kuznetsova’s personal relationships, she is inferior to Ivanovich - 1:3. The only time Svetlana defeated Ivanovich was last year in Sydney. In the duel with Hantuchova, the Russian also had a passive score - 3:6. This year the athletes exchanged blows: at the tournament in Indian Wells the Slovakian was stronger, in Rome the Russian was stronger. In the confrontation between Kuznetsova and Sharapova, the equality is 3:3.

If we talk about Sharapova, she was included in the final championship at the very last moment. The reason for this was Venus Williams' refusal to perform in Madrid. These were the recommendations of the American doctors, who prescribed rest for the tennis player. True, Sharapova herself cannot boast of excellent form. On the contrary, over the past months the Russian woman has been tormented by a shoulder injury. Because of this, after the US Open, where Masha lost to Poland’s Agnieszka Radwianska in the third round, she practically did not go on court, not counting the Kremlin Cup. But in Moscow, Sharapova lost her opening match to Victoria Azarenka from Belarus. At the press conference, Sharapova repeatedly repeated that the main thing for her now is her health and she is not even thinking about the final tournament, although she reminded reporters that she won it in 2004. Nevertheless, she was among the participants in this prestigious tournament, where there are no weak rivals. In the confrontation with Hantuchova, the Russian woman has a positive balance of results - 5:1. The same cannot be said for Ivanovic, to whom Sharapova lost twice. And both times this year.

A week after the start of the women's championship, on November 11, a men's tournament will open in Shanghai, among the participants of which there is only one Russian - the fourth racket of the world Nikolai Davydenko. Recently the names of the holders of the last two vouchers became known - Fernando Gonzalez from Chile and the Frenchman Richard Gasquet. Earlier, the final eight included Roger Federer from Switzerland, Spaniard Rafael Nadal, Serbian Novak Djokovic, American Andy Roddick and Spaniard David Ferrer.

Olga ERMOLINA