2/15/2010

Week #7 preview: Dubai, Memphis, Bogota

Dubai (UAE), Premier, $2,000,000
The big prize money and luxurious hotels of Dubai always attract many of the top players to this Premier tournament. And this year is not an exception, with 8 of the Top-10 players (only Serena Williams and Dinara Safina are missing) and 16 of the 20 world's top players. Venus Williams will try to retain her title but will find a big opposition on Russian army (Kuznetsova, Dementieva, Zvonareva) and youngsters Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka.

Memphis (USA), International, $220,000
Two are the main attractions and big favourites of this International event in Memphis, Russian Maria Sharapova and American Melanie Oudin. Sharapova will try to take revenge of her defeat to Oudin at US Open 2009. Nevertheless, there are some other dangerous players in the draw, such as Estonian Kaia Kanepi, and Czech Lucie Hradecka and Petra Kvitova.

Bogota (COL), International, $220,000

American clay mini-season starts in Bogota. The draw doesn't look very strong with many players from outside Top-100, and it would be a real surprise if the title is not for one of the Top 3 seeds: Argentinian Gisela Dulko, Spanish Carla Suarez and Italian Sara Errani. But on clay surprises should never be discarded.

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