Day one preview, L.A. Championships

By Glyn James
November 5 2002

With the L.A. Championships just a day away, we take a look forward to what day one holds to offer. Venus Williams, Lindsay Davenport and Justine Henin are all in action.

Day one of the home depot championships kicks off with what is believed to be the closest encounter of the first round, Kim Clijsters v Chanda Rubin.

The pair have met on two occasions, and Clijsters has come out on top twice. Clijsters has hit a little form lately, capturing titles in Filderstadt and Luxemberg, with a QF appearance at Zurich in between. Rubin's slump in form following an impressive 4rd at the U.S. Open was put aside at Linz two weeks ago. Rubin scored impressive straight sets victories over Daniilidou, Petrova and Jelena Dokic, before finally falling to Justine Henin in the SF. Clijsters certainly has the confidence at the moment, and will go in as the favourite, but don't expect an easy win for either player. It will be a surprise if this one doesn't go to three.

Second on court is another Belgian. This time it's the turn of Justine Henin, who faces Russian #2 Elena Dementieva. Dementieva has been playing some strong tennis as of late, and came agonisingly close to defeating Daniela Hantuchova in Zurich three weeks ago, but it his Henin who is brimming with confidence going into this one. She picked up her 6th title of the year a week ago at Linz, and has been playing some very impressive tennis as of late. Dementieva will do well to take a set off Henin, but Henin will surely be too much for the out of sorts Russian.

The battle of the Americans will follow this match. Monica Seles will have the unenviable task of taking on Lindsay Davenport. Davenport has beaten Seles in their previous nine meetings, and seven of those have been in straight sets. Seles has not played any competitive tennis since her Wild Card entry in Bahia (Sept 9th) in which she crashed out in the SF to Eleni Daniilidou. Davenport was forced to withdraw from Linz after an ankle injury that she sustained in Zurich. Davenport is expected to bounce back to fitness, whilst no-one is entirely sure how Monica will perform. Anything other than a Davenport victory will be a surprise.

The 'main event' pits Swiss Miss Patty Schnyder against American legend Venus Williams. Schnyder has lost all three meetings with the American, but is coming off a great morale boosting victory in her back yard tournament, the Swisscom Challenge. Venus hasn't played since that shocking defeat to eventual tournament winner Magdalena Maleeva at the Kremlin Cup, Moscow. Schnyder will hope to take some inspiration from her own giant killing at Zurich in order to proceed to the next round, but Venus is certainly expected to stand strong and see off Schnyder's challenge.

The matches are split into two sessions. Each session will include two matches, and sessions start at 12:30 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. (local time).