Hectic And Tough Schedule Resulting in Wide Open U.S. Open For Women

NEW YORK -- Mary Jo Fernandez first scanned the seeding for this U.S. Open when she attended a WTA tournament in New Haven, Conn., another tour stop on a bumpy summer ride for the top-ranked players in the women's game. Upsets would be coming, she thought.

"When we saw the draw," Fernandez said, "we said, 'Oh, boy.'"

A three-time 1990s Grand Slam finalist turned television analyst, Fernandez spent months watching the preliminary events for the U.S. Open. The same men kept showing in the later rounds, Fernandez recalled.

"But the women?" she said. "They're losing earlier. So there's going to be a big opportunity here. And we've seen it from day one."

This has been a wide-open Open for the women, with seeded players falling by the wayside early and often. Just seven of the top 16 seeds made the fourth round. Only one of the top eight seeds, defending champion Serena Williams, made it to the quarterfinals.

Contrast that with the men, who saw 14 of their top 16 make the fourth round. How did we get here?

"Part of it is that there's more depth and the matches aren't as straightforward as they used to be," Fernandez said. "When I played, you could pretty much guarantee the top four were getting through the second week and winning pretty comfortably. That's changed in the last couple years."

Myriad reasons converged during the first week of this 14-day stand in Flushing Meadows. Top pros showed up burnt out, drained by the grind of the WTA Tour. Others looked flustered and uncomfortable. The return of former No. 1 Kim Clijsters and the rise of 17-year-old Melanie Oudin only jumbled the picture further.

Upsets happen. That maybe explains why No. 16 Virginie Razzano lost in the first round and No. 12 Agniesszka Radwanska and No. 15 Sam Stosure fell in the second round.

But it's more than that.

There are 51 events on the WTA Tour. Stops will be added in Copenhagen and Kuala Lumpur for 2010, said tour chairman and CEO Stacey Allaster. By awarding ranking points at tour stops, the WTA entices players to play.

"We need players to support this tour," Allaster said. "And the way you reward players is to rank them. We all know that player behavior and their patterns are driven off of ranking points, because it affects endorsements, it affects seeding."

Williams, for one, coasts through most non-Slams and saves her energy. That's why she's ranked No. 2 in the world, despite winning both the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year.

Others use the preliminary events to springboard into better positions for the Slams. Which leads to tired legs and empty stores of resolve this late in the season.

"Usually there's one top player who struggles, or whatever," Fernandez said. "There's a bunch of them who had come into this struggling. That's what's different than other years."

No. 1 Dinara Safina looked harried by the demands of her ranking. She lost in the third round.
No. 5 Jelena Jankovic played with a foggy brain in the second round, still reeling from the news that her grandmother had died. Jankovic lost.

No. 11 Ana Ivanovic dragged herself through a first-round loss, then talked candidly afterward about the need for a break from the strain of the tour. She is 21 and exhausted.

"I feel happy that this season, it's going to be a longer off season," Ivanovic said after her loss. "So I have longer time off [to] completely switch off and, you know, I haven't had proper holidays in years."

In the unsettled field, someone had to emerge.

Now healthy, Clijsters resembles her former self: the No. 1 payer in the world and the winner of the 2005 U.S. Open. Clijsters knocked out No. 14 Marion Bartoli in the second round and No. 3 Venus Williams in the fourth.

Bursting with energy, Oudin, the 17-year-old American, upset No. 4 Elena Dementieva in the second round, former No. 1 Maria Sharapova in the third round and No. 13 Nadia Petrova in the fourth round.

Fernandez calls those two the story of the tournament, one filled with night-time drama and tension-packed tennis. Upsets aren't always a bad thing.

"When the women win easily," Fernandez said, "and the players get through or whatever, you hear criticism: 'Oh, gosh, there's no depth. Those matches are so quick. Blah blah blah.'

"And then when they struggle - Venus struggles the first round, Safina struggles the first round, Ivanovic goes out: 'What's wrong with women's tennis? Why can't the top players get it together?'

"They're playing two-hour and forty-five minute matches. Isn't that we want? You can't have it both ways."