Defending women’s champion Serena Williams heads a quality field at the Sony Ericsson Open as she begins her quest for a sixth title in Miami against either Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky or American wild card Alexa Glatch. The World No. 1 won three successive titles in 2002 (d. Capriati), 2003 (d. Capriati) and 2004 (d. Dementieva) before capturing back-to-back crowns in the past two years with victory over Justine Henin in 2007 and Jelena Jankovic in last year’s gripping final. The Australian Open champion has a 16-2 record coming in to the event.
In the quarterfinals, Williams could face the in-form sixth seed Vera Zvonareva – who went unbeaten last week at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells as she captured both the singles and doubles (w/Azarenka) titles. The Russian, who was a semifinalist last year, opens her campaign against either Tathiana Garbin of Italy or Czech Klara Zakopalova after a bye through the first round.
Also featuring in the top half of the draw are last year’s runner-up Jelena Jankovic and three-time champion Venus Williams, who could clash in the quarterfinals. Third seed Jankovic, who dropped just one set en route to the title match last year, meets either Gisela Dulko of Argentina or Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino in her opening match. The fifth-seeded Williams could face a testing encounter in the shape of Shahar Peer, should the Israeli knock out Belgian wild card Tamaryn Hendler.
World No. 2 Dinara Safina could face a potentially tricky second round encounter against wild card Sania Mirza, should the Indian overcome France’s Mathilde Johansson in the first round. Safina, who finished runner-up at the Australian Open, enjoyed her best result in Miami last year – when she reached the quarterfinals (l. to Zvonareva). Seventh-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic is a possible quarterfinal opponent this year for Safina. Last week’s Indian Wells runner-up, who won her first Grand Slam championship at Roland Garros in 2008, reached the quarterfinals on her Miami debut in 2005 (l. to Mauresmo) and opens against either a qualifier or Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.
Completing the top eight seeds are No. 4 Elena Dementieva and No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova, who are due to meet in the quarterfinals. The 2004 finalist Dementieva plays either Russian wild card Anastasia Pivovarova or American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, while 2006 champion Kuznetsova takes on either Romania’s Monica Niculescu or a qualifier.
Speaking at the draw ceremony 12th seed Marion Bartoli, who faces either a qualifier or Olga Govortsova in the second round, said: “It (the draw) was really fun. It usually brings me luck and I like to do it. I love this tournament, the Sony Ericsson Open. Miami is a great place. I’m looking forward to starting. It’s a really important tournament.”
