Sharapova Gunning For No.1 in Los AngelesLOS ANGELES - After two spectacular weeks of tennis already in California, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour wraps up its summer hard court swing in the Golden State this week with the JPMorgan Chase Open presented by Herbalife.
A fantastic field has assembled at the Home Depot Center in Carson to take part in the $585,000 Tier II event, seeking to pick up some valuable points in the US Open Series.
Five of the world's Top 10 will be in action this week, though one of the event's most popular names will be missing from this year's tournament. Back problems will prevent four-time champion Lindsay Davenport from returning to the Home Depot Center in Carson to defend her title.
The current world No.1 first suffered a lower back injury in her Wimbledon finals loss to Venus Williams early last month, and it flared up again two weeks ago at Stanford where she was unable to complete her first match at that event. The injury resulted in her withdrawal from San Diego and Los Angeles this week where she was defending champion at both events, along with Stanford.
The American's absence from the California events has opened the door for this week's No.1 seed to take over as the world's No.1 ranked player. Maria Sharapova has inched closer and closer to the top position in women's tennis, standing a mere 23 points from the sport's most prized mantle.
For Sharapova to become the 15th No.1 on next week's Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Singles Rankings - and the first from Russia - she has to reach the semifinals with 28 bonus points, which are awarded based on the rankings of her defeated opponents; the higher the ranking, the greater the bonus points. Reaching the final, regardless of the bonus points, will make her the fifth-youngest No.1 in computer rankings history, behind Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, Tracy Austin and Steffi Graf.
Curiously, it could be the third time in the past nine years and second time in the past three that the JPMorgan Chase Open has ushered in a new world No.1. Steffi Graf rose to No.1 for the first time after winning the LA title in 1987, as did Kim Clijsters in 2003.
Should Sharapova fail to reach the LA semifinals, she will almost certainly rise to No.1 the following Monday, August 22. Davenport's points (175) for winning the Cincinnati title last year will drop off on that date (the Cincinnati tournament was held four weeks earlier this year), meaning her points total will fall below Sharapova's, irrespective of the Russian's results in Toronto. The only way Davenport could hold on to No.1 would be if she took a late entry into Toronto, which seems unlikely considering she's already done so for New Haven the following week.
Sharapova will be playing for the first time since Wimbledon and could be facing a friendly foe in the second round. She will take on either American wild card Marissa Irvin or countrywoman Maria Kirilenko - whom she considers one of her best friends.
Sharapova won't be the only highly seeded Russian gunning for the title in Los Angeles, as seeds No.2 through No.4 are also filled this week by some of Russia's finest. Defending US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova will hold the No.2 seed, while Elena Dementieva is the No.3 and Nadia Petrova the No.4.
Kuznetsova will take on either a qualifier or Eleni Daniilidou in the second round, while Dementieva will also have a first round bye before facing Alina Jidkova or Samantha Stosur. Meanwhile, Petrova's first match of the week will be against either American wild card Jill Craybas or Virginia Ruano Pascual.
No.5 seed Kim Clijsters comes to Los Angeles after seeing her 26-match winning streak in the United states snapped in San Diego. The Belgian player had won 20 straight matches in the U.S. this year, including titles at Indian Wells, Miami and Stanford before her shocking upset to Chinese teen Peng Shuai last Friday.
Now, Clijsters will begin her charge for a fourth title in the United States this year when she faces Karolina Sprem or a qualifier in her second round match.
Other seeds looking to make a title run in Los Angeles include No.6 seed Mary Pierce, who put together a fabulous week of tennis in San Diego, No.8 Elena Likhovtseva, No.9 Daniela Hantuchova and No.10 Flavia Pennetta.
This is the 23rd year the JPMorgan Chase Open has been played in Los Angeles. Previous champions at this event include Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Conchita Martinez, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and four-time winner, Lindsay Davenport.