The home depot Championships are upon us.

By Glyn James
November 3 2002

We have reached the end of a thrilling season on the WTA tour, but for some, the season isn't quite finished yet, and some players believe they have something to prove. They'll get their chance this week in L.A.

The grande finale of the WTA tour is upon us. The event has returned to the US after after a one year spell at Munich. It is one of the most prestigious events on the tour, and it is what every player dreams of playing in. The tournament has a rather different set up to all other tournaments. There are no wild cards or qualifiers here. Only the top 16 available players are invited to play, which guarantees some top quality action. This year's event will be played at the STAPLES centre in L.A., and there is a total of $3,000,000 on offer as prize money.

No matter where you are, you should be able to catch the action on TV as coverage will be shown in 54 different countries. ESPN / ESPN2 offers coverage in the States, while Eurosport plans to show extensive coverage.

The tournament draw is made up of eight seeds and eight other players, however, even with a seeding, no-one is guaranteed an easy first round match. Here's how the draw looks -

1)S.Williams - A.Smashnova
A.Myskina - (8)J.Dokic

(3)J.Capriati - S.Farina-Elia
M.Maleeva - (7)D.Hantuchova


(5)K.Clijsters - C.Rubin
E.Dementieva - (4)J.Henin

(6)M.Seles - L.Davenport
P.Schnyder - (2)V.Williams

There are already some mouth watering clashes lined up for the 1rd. Russia's Anastasia Myskina will battle it out with Yugoslav Jelena Dokic to meet a fresh Serena Williams in the QF, and we could see the battle of the Belgians in another QF. Venus Williams has the tricky task of seeing off an on form Patty Schnyder, whilst Davenport won't quite know what to expect from Monica Seles. We could well see yet another all-Williams final with both sisters on opposite sides of the draw, but both will have to work hard as everyone out there will be hoping to prove themselves. Alexandra Stevenson will enter the draw in the event of any withdrawal.

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PREDICTION -

QF:
Serena def. Dokic in two
Hantuchova def. Capriati in two
Henin def. Rubin in three
Davenport def. Venus in two

SF:
Serena def. Hantuchova in two
Davenport def. Henin in two

F - Serena def. Davenport in three.