Sony Ericsson Championships
Madrid, Spain
November 6-11, 2007
Prize Money: $3,000,000
Draw: 8M/4D
Surface: Hardcourt/Indoors

The Sony Ericsson Championships is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour.

The round robin stage of this year's tournament will be conducted between Tuesday and Friday, with each player meeting the other three combatants in their group. After these 12 matches have taken place, the Top 2 performers from each group will advance to Saturday's semifinals (the No.1 performer in each Group taking on No.2), with the final scheduled to take place on Sunday afternoon. The victor of this clash will take home the winner's purse of $1,000,000, while the runner-up receives $500,000.

In the Yellow Group, we have:

¹Justine Henin
³Jelena Jankovic
⁵Serena Williams
⁷Anna Chakvetadze

Red Group:

²Svetlana Kuznetsova
⁴Ana Ivanovic
⁶Maria Sharapova
⁸Daniela Hantuchova

Henin will surely qualify from the yellow group, who follows I can't say - Anna, if she doesn't get too emotional, could just be the spoiler.

In the Red group, I can't even predict.

ORDER OF PLAY

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

From 18.00hrs
1. Henin vs. Chakvetadze
2. Sharapova vs. Hantuchova (NB 20.00hrs)
3. Kuznetsova vs. Ivanovic

Henin scales through the first hurdle.  She beat Chakvetadze 6-1, 7-6(4).

Up Next, Shriekapova vs. Hantuchova . . . I'm tipping Hantuchova to go through.

Other Tuesday's Results:

Red Group:

Sharapova - Hantuchova 6-4, 7-5
Ivanovic - Kuznetsova 6-1, 4-6, 7-5

Today's Fixtures:

Justine Henin vs Jelena Jankovic  . . . in progress
Williams S. vs Chakvetadze A.
Ivanovic A. vs Hantuchova D.

Breaking News!!!

Serena withdraws from the championship.  There won't be any match between her and Justine - a match I was looking forward to. What a pity! 

Anyways, Henin has progressed to the semi-finals. She beat Jankovic 6-2, 6-2, extending her head to head record to 9 - 0.  The second berth from the yellow group will be contested between Jankovic and Chakvetadze.

Lest I forget! Serena was trailing Chakvetadze 4-6, when she withdrew.  Marion Bartoli will replace Serena Williams.

Masters Cup:

The draws for the men was made earlier today. 

Defending champion Roger Federer, a three-time winner of the circuit-finale, will challenge Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick and Fernando Gonzalez in Red Group round robin action.

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal will begin proceedings on Sunday, November 11, against Richard Gasquet, who was the last to secure his Shanghai invitation. The pair was also drawn against Novak Djokovic and Ferrer in the Gold Group.



Easy group, kind of, for Roger.  Roddick had better withdraw now than later and allow Bandy show us more of the stuff he's made of.

Other Group Results:

Yellow Group

Henin - Bartoli 6-0, 6-0
Chakvetadze - Jankovic 6-4, 0-6, 6-3
Bartoli - Jankovic 6-1, 1-0 Retired

Red Group

Ivanovic - Hantuchova 6-2, 7-6(9)
Sharapova - Kuznetsova 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
Hantuchova - Kuznetsova 7-6(6), 6-0
Sharapova - Ivanovic 6-1, 6-0

Group Standings

Yellow Group

1) Henin
2) Chakvetadze
3) Bartoli
4) Jankovic

Red Group

1) Sharapova
2) Ivanovic
3) Hantuchova
4) Kuznetsova

Ivanovic will play Henin in the semi-finals, and Sharapova will face compatriot Anna Chakvetadze in the last four on Saturday.

The match between Sharapova and Chakvetadze is underway.

Defending champion Justine Henin will play Maria Sharapova in the Sony Ericsson Championships final on Sunday.

Henin beat fourth-ranked Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-4, and Sharapova defeated No. 7 Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 6-2 Saturday in the semifinals of the round-robin tournament that features the top eight players.

Masters Cup

Rafael Nadal took his first step towards the Tennis Masters Cup semifinals with a gritty 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win Sunday over Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the first match of the 2007 circuit finale. 

Fellow Spaniard David Ferrer then completed a Day 1 sweep with a 6-4, 6-4 upset of World No. 3 Novak Djokovic.

Monday's Fixtures:

Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) vs Andy Roddick (USA)
Roger Federer (SUI) vs Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)

Sony Ericsson Championships

 

Defending Champ Justine Henin beat grunting Maria Sharapova 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 to clinch the championship title. The match lasted 3hrs 24min.

Congrats Justine!!! What a splendid year it's been!

Masters Cup:

Gonzalez claimed his first win in 11 tries over Federer when he stunned the world number one 3-6, 7-6(1), 7-5 to boost his chances of reaching the semis.

While Andy Roddick earlier made an impressive start to his 2007 Tennis Masters Cup campaign Monday and improved his unbeaten record against Nikolay Davydenko to 5-0 with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win over the Russian. Roddick fired nine aces.

Tuesday's Fixtures:

N Djokovic (SRB) vs R Gasquet (FRA)
R Nadal (ESP) vs D Ferrer (ESP)

David Ferrer outgunned fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal with 23 winners to 10 to claim his second win at Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai, where he is now favored to reach the semis.

Richard Gasquet vaulted into semifinal contention and almost certainly ended World No. 3 Novak Djokovic's Tennis Masters Cup aspirations with a 6-4, 6-2 win over the Serb on Tuesday.

Wednesday's Fixtures:

R Federer (SUI) vs N Davydenko (RUS)
A Roddick (USA) vs F Gonzalez (CHI)

Wednesday's Results:

Federer - Davydenko 6-4, 6-2
Roddick - Gonzalez 6-0, 6-4

Thursday's Results:

Nadal - Djokovic  6-4, 6-4
Ferrer - Gasquet  6-1, 6-1

Friday's Results:

Davydenko - Gonzalez  6-4, 6-3
Federer - Roddick  6-4, 6-2

Semi-Final Results:

Federer - Nadal  6-4, 6-1
Ferrer - Roddick  6-1, 6-3

Federer meets Ferrer in tomorrow's final