The first thing that strikes me when I look at the draw, is that it’s not a good draw to meet Q2 or Q4. Very strong chinese players are expected to come of these two qualifying pools.
That raises the question if it’s not the time to come up with some amendments to the rules for accepting players into the main draw.
One solution could be to give exemption for a Super Serie win. I.e. if you win a Super Serie you are exempt into the main draw for the next 5 Super Series, if you loose the final it’s 3 and if you reach the semi it’s the next Super Serie.
I think it’s time to do something, and at the same time take a good look at the notional points in the doubles, which has become more and more confusing and seemingly unfair.
Anyway the chinese players are most likely going to dominate this category as they use to, with the international threat coming mainly from Tine Rasmussen and Saina Nehwal.
Adryanti Firdasari will be looking to spring another surprise in the first round against Wang Yihan, but I think it will be very difficult for her this time, as the chinese team now is warned beforehand of her abilities.
I have Wang Yihan as my personal favourite to win this tournament but there can be many obstacles on the way. One of them might be a second round match against Wong Mew Choo. However it’s been a very long time since Mew Choo has shown the form that won her the China Open Super Serie, and it seems she is struggling very hard to make a comeback to the top of womens singles. An all chinese quarterfinal is expected in the bottom draw as I see no serious challengers to Jiang Yanjiao in the first two rounds.
Hirose Eriko who is also on a comeback trail has been drawn against Tine Rasmussen. That’s not a nice draw for any of the players beforehand, but Tine should be the favourite to prevail and meet either Judith Meulendijks, who has been injured for a month, or Susan Egelstaff (former Hughes). Hopefully for the danes the form of Tine Rasmussen should improve with more tournament matches played after her 5 month injury break.
Saina Nehwal will play strong bulgarian Petya Nedeltcheva in a very interesting first round match, and I expect the winner to move on to the quarters quite easily.
Second quarter is an all european quarter, with Schenk, Pi and Yao Jie as the strongest contenders, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is Juliane Schenk who enters the semi’s of the three. I think her form is on its way up, and she has a good attitude on court – that is for herself, maybe the opponents doesn’t like it, but she shows self confidence and emotion and I like that.
Ohh and don’t forget Wang Shixian will go into this quarter and maybe prove too strong for the european girls.
The first quarter will be an all chinese affair and we can expect some world class matches. Wang Lin, Wang Xin and Lu Lan will battle it out for a place in the semi’s, and as a dane I would like World Champion Lu Lan to go far in this tournament and maybe, just maybe set up a rematch with Tine. Strange when I saw Lu at the worlds it looked like she has gained quite a lot of weight, did any of you notice that.
Overall the chinese team is very strong and will undoubtfully dominate the tournament, but there are players in the field that can challenge them, and it might be easier in the early rounds when there should be some kind of jetlag left with the asian players.
Prediction to meet in final: Wang Yihan vs Lu Lan Outsider: Tine Rasmussen
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