DFS Classic preview by Glyn James

By Glyn James
June 8 2002

This week's main tournament is the DFS Classic in Birmingham, UK. It may not be the most prestigious of tournaments on the tour, but it is a tournament that many players use in order to get used to the grass of Great Britain, before the forthcoming Grand Slam at Wimbledon.

It is a Tier III tournament with a total of $170,000 for prize money. Nathalie Tauziat was last year's winner in the ladies' singles, and other past champions include Lisa Raymond of the U.S.A. and tennis legends Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King.

This year, the tournament has attracted nine players from the top thirty. Most notable entries are #9 Jelena Dokic (YUG), #19 Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) and #23 Tatiana Panova (RUS).

Dokic has proven herself to be a very good player on the grass. Since 1999, she's made the Wimbledon semi-finals, quarter-finals, and 4rd. Her most notable win on the grass would have to be the shocking upset over world number one (at the time) Martina Hingis, with a 6-0 6-1 1rd win. Jelena will be, without a doubt, the player to beat this week, but she won't have it easy.

Tamarine Tanasugarn is another player capable of playing on the grass. In fact, Wimbledon has been her most successful Grand Slam too. She has made the 4rd in the last four years, and was also a finalist in DFS classic in 2000. Her total record on grass as a professional is 32/16, and she'll no doubt be looking forward to playing on the grass again this year.

The other possible contenders are Tatiana Panova, Anastasia Myskina, and Daja Bedanova. Aswell as having Anne Kremer of Luxemberg in the draw, who has beaten the number one seed Jelena Dokic on three previous occassions already this year. Al in all, the tournament should prove to be a healthy appetizer to get us in the mood for his year's Wimbledon championships.


Elsewhere, there are two more tournaments going on. The first is the Wien Energie Grand Prix (Austria) on the red clay that will feature players such as Silvia Farina Elia, Barbara Schett and Iroda Tulyaganova. The second tournament is played on the outdoor hardcourts of the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan. This tournament will feature Mikaelian and Poutcheck as the top seeds, but is a very low prestige tournament, and pretty much restricted to the lower ranked players and the up and coming players.

GLYN PREDICTS:

-Dokic to take second title of the year in Birmingham

-Farina Elia to claim her second clay court tournament of the year in Austria.

-Mikaelian to triumph in Uzbekistan.