THIS WEEK: Jennifer Capriati broke through for a win in Strasbourg, and surges from 38 to 29 (WTA #113 last week) on the SRI Rankings Top 50 Women. Last year's winners at Strasbourg and Madrid were Irina Spirlea and Patty Schnyder, so they both fall a couple of places this week.

But of course the French Open starts later today. Unlike the men's side (as usual), there are only a handful of women who can win the tournament. The favourite must be Martina Hingis, as you can see by the clay-only ratings below. After Hingis, there is a large gap to '98 runner-up Monica Seles, followed by Venus Williams, and then an even bigger gap to the rest. The winner should come from these three - expect a Hingis v Seles final, which would be great to watch. I've seen Seles at 8/1 with the bookies, so she's potentially worth a bet.

Lindsay Davenport, despite winning in Madrid last week, is ranked seventh on clay. She will get a shock in round 2 to find herself against qualifier Justine Henin, who has now won all eight of her matches this year (and all on clay), losing just one set. With such limited data, it's hard to get a fix on Henin's true value, but I wouldn't be investing in Davenport until I'd seen her first three performances (round 3 is Frenchwoman Pitkowski, or Colombian Zuluaga, either of whom should also give her a fight).

These odds take into account clay and all-surface ratings, plus the exact draw. No-one has been particularly hard hit by the draw, except maybe those in Hingis's neighbourhood! Note that only 10 players are better than 150/1 - compare that with 36 of the men!

ODDS	Player(s)
evens	Hingis
9/4	Seles
5/1	V.Williams
14/1	Davenport
25/1	S.Williams, Graf
40/1	Novotna
50/1	Sanchez-Vicario, Pierce, Kournikova
150	Tauziat, Halard-Decugis
200	Testud, Martinez
250	Schnyder, Likhovtseva, Henin
330	Fernandez, Capriati, Mauresmo
500	Schett, Dechy, Nagyova
1000	van Roost, Rubin, Srebotnik, Dragomir, Spirlea

SRI Rankings French Open Special. Clay Only. 24th May 1999
Rank	Name	Rating Points	SRI Rank (all surfaces)	Comments
1	Martina Hingis	1693	2	All indications are positive
2	Monica Seles	1520	5	The major threat
3	Venus Williams	1394	4	Also a good chance
4	Anna Kournikova	1142	12
5	Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario	1080	9
6	Serena Williams	1073	6
7	Lindsay Davenport	1068	1	Not her surface, early exit?
8	Jana Novotna	992	7
9	Conchita Martinez	981	13
10	Elena Likhovtseva	966	22
11	Patty Schnyder	954	14
12	Jennifer Capriati	946	29
13	Ruxandra Dragomir	917	31
14	Mary Pierce	906	8
15	Henrieta Nagyova	874	28
16	Katarina Srebotnik 871 NQ	8	matches	only
17	Amelie Mauresmo	855	18
18	Julie Halard-Decugis	847	19
19	Corina Morariu	844	39
20	Barbara Schett	837	17
21	Sandrine Testud	834	11
22	Dominique van Roost	833	16
23	Iva Majoli	822	34
24	Nathalie Dechy	820	32
25	Nathalie Tauziat	820	10	9 matches only
26	Irina Spirlea	787	24
27	Silvija Talaja	780	40
28	Chanda Rubin	770	15
29	Natasha Zvereva	750	21
30	Silvia Farina	748	27
NQ	Steffi Graf	968	3	3 matches only
31	Fabiola Zuluaga	736	41
38	Amanda Coetzer	705	23

SRI Rankings Top 50 Issue #W70. 24th May 1999
Rank	Name	Rating Points	Rank Change	WTA Rank
1	Lindsay Davenport	1715	0	2
2	Martina Hingis	1692	0	1
3	Steffi Graf	1630	0	6
4	Venus Williams	1594	0	5
5	Monica Seles	1495	0	3
6	Serena Williams	1464	0	5
7	Jana Novotna	1414	0	4
8	Mary Pierce	1288	0	8
9	Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario	1240	0	7
10	Nathalie Tauziat	1126	0	9
11	Sandrine Testud	1121	0	12
12	Anna Kournikova	1086	+2	20
13	Conchita Martinez	1074	+2	22
14	Patty Schnyder	1072	-2	11
15	Chanda Rubin	1065	+1	23
16	Dominique van Roost	1063	-3	13
17	Barbara Schett	1046	+1	15
18	Amelie Mauresmo	1023	+1	18
19	Julie Halard-Decugis	1013	-2	16
20	Mary Joe Fernandez	1005	0	41
21	Natasha Zvereva	985	+2	17
22	Elena Likhovtseva	983	-1	21
23	Amanda Coetzer	980	+1	14
24	Irina Spirlea	960	-2	19
25	Anke Huber	949	0	28
26	Amy Frazier	934	0	30
27	Silvia Farina	926	0	25
28	Henrieta Nagyova	921	0	24
29	Jennifer Capriati	905	+9	113
30	Lisa Raymond	866	-1	37
31	Ruxandra Dragomir	862	-1	27
32	Nathalie Dechy	840	0	29
33	Cara Black	830	-2	32
34	Iva Majoli	825	-1	36
35	Ai Sugiyama	812	0	31
36	Magui Serna	794	-2	26
37	Virginia Ruano Pascual	782	-1	39
38	Gala Leon Garcia	772	+6	43
39	Corina Morariu	767	-2	35
40	Silvija Talaja	766	-1	68
41	Fabiola Zuluaga	753	+1	49
42	Barbara Rittner	744	+1	46
43	Ines Gorrochategui	740	-3	111
44	Sarah Pitkowski	734	-3	33
45	Karina Habsudova	728	0	56
46	Sylvia Plischke	717	+2	34
47	Sandra Nacuk	712	0	91
48	Elena Dementieva	711	-2	126
49	Sabine Appelmans	705	+1	74
50	Anna Smashnova	699	+2	38
53	Mariaan de Swardt	697	-4	45
69	Denisa Chladkova	625	+43	95

Rating Winners:
Jennifer Capriati	+141	(W Strasbourg 99)
Denisa Chladkova	+117	(SF Strasbourg 99, 1R Madrid 98)

Rating Losers:
Patty Schnyder	-53	(W Madrid 98, 2R 99)
Irina Spirlea	-47	(W Strasbourg 98)
Magui Serna	-44	(QF Madrid 98, QF 99)
Julie Halard-Decugis	-41	(RU Strasbourg 98)
Dominique van Roost	-39	(RU Madrid 98)

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

blurb version 3.0