Week #35-36 preview: US Open

US Open (USA), Grand Slam, $7,050,000
The last Grand Slam of the season will present another big battle amongst the top players for the title and also for the WTA #1, with the only absence of Maria Sharapova due to a shoulder injury. The form of current #1 Ana Ivanovic is unknown and she recently missed the Olympic Games due to an injury. Fellow Serbian Jelena Jankovic is being more regular but physically is not at her best neither. Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova is not finding good results in the big tournaments this season, but she was US Open winner in 2004 and runner-up last year. Serena and Venus Williams must be considered always as candidates for the title, although this time they will have to face each other in the quarter-finals. Olympic Games finalists, Russians Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina are probably the best players at the moment, but they will have to cope with the pressure of being considered favourite to win a Grand Slam and being able to reach #1.
Big upsets shouldn't be discarded, and players such as Nadia Petrova, Vera Zvonareva and youngsters Agnieszka Radwanska, Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki and Dominika Cibulkova could get a place in the final rounds.