THIS WEEK: The German Open last year was full of extraordinary upsets. Anna Kournikova beat seeds Majoli, Hingis and Sanchez-Vicario before losing in the semi-finals to eventual champion Conchita Martinez! The losing finalist was then-unheralded Amelie Mauresmo, who took out both Davenport and Novotna. With that tournament dropping off the computer, Kournikova falls from 11 to 14 (WTA #15 -> #20), Martinez from 10 to 15 (WTA #17 -> #22), and Mauresmo from 16 to 19 (WTA #10 -> #18). This makes room for WTA #9 Nathalie Tauziat in the SRI Rankings top 10 for the first time ever.

This week's debutant in the Top 50 is WTA #91 Sandra Nacuk, who took a set off Graf after a promising run in qualification. But that is hardly worth mentioning compared with the debut of Belgian Justine Henin, who won her first tournament on the WTA Tour in Antwerp. She's a long way from playing 20 matches and qualifying on the SRI Rankings computer, but her form was incredibly impressive. In the final, she beat SRI no. 41/WTA #33 Sarah Pitkowski 6-1, 6-2! Based on such limited data, it's hardly worth mentioning that the SRI computer ranks her higher than it did Lucic after her maiden tournament win (and that was "top ten").

Fifth annual French Open Preview issue next week - and I've finally got the surface information to make it worthwhile.

SRI Rankings Top 50 Issue #W69. 18th May 1999
Rank Name Rating Points Rank Change WTA Rank
1 Lindsay Davenport 1752 0 2
2 Martina Hingis 1722 0 1
3 Steffi Graf 1645 0 6
4 Venus Williams 1615 0 5
5 Monica Seles 1518 0 3
6 Serena Williams 1487 0 10
7 Jana Novotna 1437 0 4
8 Mary Pierce 1310 0 8
9 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 1264 0 7
10 Nathalie Tauziat 1152 +4 9
11 Sandrine Testud 1137 +1 12
12 Patty Schnyder 1125 +1 11
13 Dominique van Roost 1102 +2 13
14 Anna Kournikova 1101 -3 20
15 Conchita Martinez 1092 -5 22
16 Chanda Rubin 1063 +1 23
17 Julie Halard-Decugis 1054 +5 16
18 Barbara Schett 1051 0 15
19 Amelie Mauresmo 1041 -3 18
20 Mary Joe Fernandez 1022 -1 41
21 Elena Likhovtseva 1013 +3 21
22 Irina Spirlea 1007 -2 19
23 Natasha Zvereva 999 -2 17
24 Amanda Coetzer 984 -1 14
25 Anke Huber 972 0 28
26 Amy Frazier 963 0 30
27 Silvia Farina 922 0 25
28 Henrieta Nagyova 921 0 24
29 Lisa Raymond 894 +2 37
30 Ruxandra Dragomir 882 +5 27
31 Cara Black 849 +3 32
32 Nathalie Dechy 846 -2 29
33 Iva Majoli 843 -4 36
34 Magui Serna 838 -1 26
35 Ai Sugiyama 816 -3 31
36 Virginia Ruano Pascual 776 0 39
37 Corina Morariu 769 +1 35
38 Jennifer Capriati 764 +6 113
39 Silvija Talaja 764 +2 68
40 Ines Gorrochategui 754 -3 111
41 Sarah Pitkowski 751 +8 33
42 Fabiola Zuluaga 742 +1 49
43 Barbara Rittner 741 +2 46
44 Gala Leon Garcia 735 -2 43
45 Karina Habsudova 729 +7 56
46 Elena Dementieva 725 -7 126
47 Sandra Nacuk 725 +24 91
48 Sylvia Plischke 724 -8 34
49 Mariaan de Swardt 716 +2 45
50 Sabine Appelmans 713 +8 74
 
NQ Magdalena Grzybowska 796 (46) 122
51 Nadejda Petrova 711 -3 132
52 Anna Smashnova 710 +7 38
54 Elena Tatarkova 702 -7 48
60 Tina Pisnik 668 -10 152

Rating Winners:
Sandra Nacuk +90 (2R+Q Berlin 99)
Ruxandra Dragomir +69 (SF Berlin 99, 1R 98)
Julie Halard-Decugis +45 (RU Berlin 99, 2R 98)
Lisa Raymond +41 (3R Berlin 99, 2R 98)
Sarah Pitkowski +40 (RU Antwerp 99)
Jennifer Capriati +35 (2R Berlin 99, 1R 98)

Rating Losers:
Conchita Martinez -75 (W Berlin 98, 3R 99)
Anna Kournikova -64 (SF def Hingis Berlin 98, 1R 99)
Amelie Mauresmo -57 (RU def Davenport, Novotna Berlin 98, 3R 99)
Serena Williams -38 (QF ret Berlin 99)

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


blurb version 3.0

For more information on the SRI Rankings Top 50 see the web page below.

... Darren O'Shaughnessy ... http://www.rankingsoftware.com ...