THIS WEEK: Steffi Graf has made one of the most astonishing one-week rises in the history of the SRI Rankings, leaping from 8 to 3 (WTA #38 last week) with a 220 point gain! This week she crushed Coetzer, Davenport, and Novotna in straight sets in New Haven, giving her the perfect preparation for a tilt at the U.S. Open.

Unfortunately, I am unable to provide hardcourt-only ratings for the women, as I don't have surface information for many of the tournaments over the past year. The odds below are based on the players' performances on all surfaces, so make your own adjustments for who you think plays it better. Hingis has an horrific draw, up against the winner of Huber vs Majoli in R2, then Seles in the quarter-finals and Novotna or Graf (probably) in the semis. Novotna's eighth is probably the toughest, with Spirlea and Serena Williams dangerous. Davenport, on the other hand, should waltz into the semi-finals, 100/1 shot Conchita Martinez the hardest of a marshmallow bunch. Based on this imbalance, the SRI Rankings computer places Davenport a slight favourite, to finally break her losing streak in Grand Slams.

ODDS	Player(s)
6/4	Davenport
7/4	Hingis
8/1	Graf
10/1	Novotna
12/1	Seles, Venus Williams
25/1	Sanchez Vicario
33/1	Pierce
50/1	Kournikova
100	Martinez, Serena Williams
250	Schnyder
500	Tauziat, Coetzer

SRI Rankings Top 50 Issue #W44. 31st Aug 1998
Rank	Name	Rating Points	Rank Change	WTA Rank
1	Martina Hingis	1704	0	1
2	Lindsay Davenport	1663	0	2
3	Steffi Graf	1533	+5	38
4	Jana Novotna	1502	-1	3
5	Monica Seles	1459	0	6
6	Venus Williams	1454	-2	5
7	Arantxa Sanchez Vicario	1396	-1	4
8	Mary Pierce	1346	-1	11
9	Anna Kournikova	1298	0	14
10	Serena Williams	1269	0	19
11	Conchita Martinez	1200	0	11
12	Patty Schnyder	1175	0	10
13	Irina Spirlea	1107	0	8
14	Anke Huber	1086	+1	21
15	Nathalie Tauziat	1073	+1	9
16	Lisa Raymond	1058	+1	18
17	Amanda Coetzer	1058	-3	12
18	Dominique van Roost	1034	0	13
19	Natasha Zvereva	1031	0	16
20	Sandrine Testud	954	0	17
21	Ai Sugiyama	951	0	15
22	Mary Joe Fernandez	934	(NQ)	61
23	Julie Halard-Decugis	919	+4	31
24	Mirjana Lucic	906	-2	50
25	Henrieta Nagyova	897	-2	24
26	Iva Majoli	871	-1	20
27	Magdalena Grzybowska	862	-1	37
28	Magui Serna	857	0	23
29	Barbara Schett	856	0	27
30	Elena Likhovtseva	852	-6	26
31	Virginia Ruano-Pascual	836	-1	26
32	Sabine Appelmans	799	+6	28
33	Joannette Kruger	791	-1	25
34	Barbara Paulus	787	0	33
35	Mariaan de Swardt	786	+1	30
36	Maria Alejandra Vento	776	-3	35
37	Elena Tatarkova	775	-6	48
38	Amy Frazier	771	-1	66
39	Amelie Mauresmo	770	+3	32
40	Silvia Farina	764	-5	22
41	Anne Miller	749	0	45
42	Fang Li	749	-3	42
43	Ruxandra Dragomir	735	-3	39
44	Chanda Rubin	718	+1	49
45	Cara Black	717	-1	52
46	Sylvia Plischke	716	-3	56
47	Karina Habsudova	711	+5	57
48	Barbara Rittner	705	-1	73
49	Naoko Sawamatsu	703	-3	36
50	Sarah Pitkowski	695	-1	46
52	Kimberly Po	691	-4	65
55	Tamarine Tanasugarn	674	-5	41
71	Alexia Dechaume-Balleret	596	+17	82

Rating Winners:
Steffi Graf	+220	(W New Haven 98)
Julie Halard-Decugis	+65	(SF New Haven 98)
Alexia Dechaume-Balleret	+46	(2R+Q New Haven 98)
Amelie Mauresmo	+40	(QF New Haven 98)
Sabine Appelmans	+36	(1R Atlanta 97)

Rating Losers:
Sandrine Testud	-37	(RU Atlanta 97, 2R New Haven 98)
Amanda Coetzer	-20	(SF Atlanta 97, QF New Haven 98)
Elena Likhovtseva	-20	(2R Atlanta 97, 1R New Haven 98)

[ wo - walkover, wd - withdrew, ret - retired, def - defeated ]

blurb version 3.0