With the shocking retirement of Justine Henin just a few weeks before what was to be her potential 4th championship in a row, the field is now wide open for the ladies crown. Here are my thoughts on the ladies final 4.
dinara SAFINA.
I expect big things from Dinara in '08. I've had my eye on her for a while as she has climbed the rankings and I think this is her year. Last week she won her first teir I event, and in the process beat Elena Dementieva, Serena Williams and became the answer to a trivia question by being the last player to beat Justine Henin.
I should mention that Safina's advancing to the semis takes our Maria Sharapova, the new number 1 ranked player. Sharapova only needs the French to seal her career grand slam, but clay is not a good surface for Maria and I think she'll fall a little short.
svetlana KUZNETSOVA.
There are a lot of talented young players in Svet's quarter, but she's a total badass and a former finalist, so I'm giving her the edge here over her young competition. Upset minded fans should be careful of Agnes Szavay tho.
jelena JANKOVIC.
I'm not 100% sold that Janka can win the title, but I do think she'll roll fairly easily to the semifinals (barring a potential heartbreaker elite 8 match with Venus.) She's tenacious and will win a major at some point in the next two years. But I think she's still a tournament or three away from hoisting the trophy.
ana IVANOVIC.
Before I planned to break these predictions down by quarter I had both Ivanovic and Serena Williams as real threats, but, it looks like these two ladies are going to collide in the quarterfinals. If so, I expect a killer match-up, but I'm going out on a limb and calling the win for Ana. I've got so much love for this girl - she's got two grand slam finals under her belt already (including going down to Justine here last year.) She's cool and calm and should be able to press Serena. She's far from the shoe-in that Justine would have been, but she's my pick to go all the way!
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