Week #19 preview: Berlin

Berlin (GER), Tier I, $1,340,000
The first Tier I on red clay will be a good test for the contenders to the Roland Garros title. Justine Henin, Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic will be the main favourites for the title. Venus Williams, indefinitely out of the Tour, and Maria Sharapova, who withdrew last week and critized the WTA Tour for scheduling the player's tournaments, will skip the event. In fact, 25 of the Top 30 players will play in Berlin, which shows the high level of the tournament and assures high quality matches from the first round.