The Chase for No. 1
The Battle of the Ranking Begins
By: Nick Nguyen

Cupertino, CA, 03/10/2006 - World No. 2 Amelie Mauresmo had her chances to take the top spot from Kim Clijsters for the past two weeks, but had failed to do so.

Mauresmo lost 6-3, 7-5 to Russia Nadia Petrova last Saturday in the final of the Qatar Open, putting a halt on her regaining the No. 1 position for at least a few more days because she has elected not to play this week Pacific Life tournament.

The second ranked French woman’s first attempt to replace Clijsters atop the ranking came at the Dubai Open where she lost in the quarterfinal to another Russian, Svetlana Kuznetsova in a 7-6 (13-11), 6-4 battle.  Her second attempt was derailed by Petrova. 

It seems as though just as Mauresmo is in reach of her goal, there is a set back in her plan.

"I am not too disappointed having failed to achieve that goal here,” Mauresmo said in an interview after her final lost to Petrova.

Mauresmo is just happy that she has gone over the Grand Slam’s slump by winning the Australian Open in January.  She feels no rush to fight for the No. 1 because she already knows it will come to her.

"Kim is not playing for a couple of weeks,” she said. “I'll be the world number one soon anyway."

With Clijsters out and not defending her Pacific Life’s title with a concurring ankle injury, Mauresmo does not need to do anything but wait until the ranking come out next week where she will replace the Belgian atop the ranking. 

The question is how long will Mauresmo hold on to it this time?

Justine Henin-Hardenne, who is playing Indian Wells this week and plans to play in Miami, is chasing up with Mauresmo and Clijsters.  Henin-Hardenne is currently ranked third, but if she manages to win this week and plays well in Miami, she will likely be a hundred or so points away from Mauresmo.

Henin-Hardenne, should she be healthy, will be the player beside from Mauresmo to fight it out for the top spot in the next few weeks.  She has played three tournaments this season and won two of them, at Sydney and Dubai.

She had to withdraw against Mauresmo at the Australian Open’s final because of a stomach virus.

By not defending her title this week, Clijsters will lose 325 points in the ranking pints.  With the points she will be defending in Miami, she will not make much of a move by the time the two Tier 1 events complete.

Mauresmo and Henin-Hardenne can only add more points to their ranking in Miami.

Overall, the top six women in the ranking right now all have a chance to take the No. 1 spot before the start of the French Open in May given that their points are so closed together.  Lindsay Davenport, Maria Sharapova, and Mary Pierce all currently have their chances to be No. 1.

All the top 20 players are scheduled to play Miami in two weeks, though Clijsters’ status is still unknown right now.

Ragging up the points for the ranking sounds all but too easy.  There are a few obstacles that the top players will have to face.  The obstacles standing in their way are injuries and number of tournament play.

Injuries have put several setbacks on the number of tournaments played by the top 10 players in recent years.  Whoever can remain healthy, play the most tournaments, and have better results will likely be the No. 1 player in the next couple of weeks, and even by year end.

Henin-Hardenne and Mauresmo have both started the year big and will likely be fighting it out for the year end No. 1 ranking.  This is not to say that Clijster, Davenport, and Sharapova have no chance to chase up with the two.

Though all three have already started the season with excellent results, neither of them have yet to win a tournament. Mauresmo has already won three and Henin-Hardenne is going for the third title this week in Indian Wells.

Press Contact:
Nick Nguyen
Nick.Nguyen@tennismates.com
Phone - 408-903-9513
Fax - 866-803-5321