This is the first major tournament of the WTA year and the seeds have come out in force. Justine will lead the pack of seeds which contain 7 of the top 10. This event is so popular even the Qualifying looked like a tough affair.
In the first quartet Justine will probably have to face off against Lucie Safarova, this would be a good start to her first tournament this year. Though Lucie is tough and well known for beating Amelie Mauresmo in major tournament I think Justine should feel fine after this match. Her possible opponents after Lucie are lead by Amelie and Elena. Amelie looked strong in the Mondial Hardcourts but she definitely isn't at her best so it would be interesting if she gets to play Elena or Justine.
Ana Ivanovic heads the second quartet and to be honest it looks like a shadow of the first quartet. Firstly it looks like that there wouldn't be overly strong opposition for either Ivanovic or Chakvetadze, this is becayse Razzano compared to Safarova I think there is a big gap and Razzano should be easy for Ivanovic to dispatch. Nadia seems to still be in her injury state whilst Srebotnik didn't do to well in the ASB and Sybille will lead the attack against Anna. But I have to say both Ana and Anna aren't the most consistent of players as they are young so they may fall to an unexpected opponent. Considering Chakvetadze beat Ivanaoiv in the JB Group Classic I'm not sure who will win if they face each other.
Personally I think Nicole has been handed a good draw this is one of the first times I've been happy with Nicole drawn near Jelena. Hopefully Daniela and Dinara will wear each other out in there first match for the fresh Nicole to succesfully beat one of them, it's so unlucky that Nicole was out of a seeding by just one rank but I guess she may have had to deal with Justine if she got a seed. Jelena is also seemingly injured from the looks of the Hopman Cup (congrats to Serena for helping USA to win) this will therefore make her possible match against Tatiana Golovin a difficult one, looking at that match we will see where Jelena is in terms of form.
Considering Na Li's recent form I think Marion will have little chance of running away with this match. Shahar Peer will be tough for Svetlana so it would be interesting to see what happens.
The Doubles also looks interesting so I may discuss it further on in the tournament.
Expected Quarterfinal Lineup
Justine Henin Vs. Amelie Mauresmo (she looks slightly stronger than Elena at the moment)
Ana Ivanovic Vs. Anna Chakvetadze
Nicole Vaidisova (she should be OK) Vs. Tatiana Golovin (this is a risky prediction for me)
Na Li Vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova
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