THIS WEEK: Venus Williams regained fourth over her sister with her fifth title of the year at New Haven. Runner-up Lindsay Davenport moved back past last year's winner Steffi Graf to take second. Jana Novotna's rating continued to plummet, now close to falling out of the top 10.

There was a new entry in the SRI Rankings Top 50 Women by Spaniard Angeles Montolio. We haven't heard much about her, but should in the near future.

On to the U.S. Open preview. The hardcourt-only rankings have again thrown up a surprise: Serena Williams is on top! Her outstanding form in the tournaments she has entered this hardcourt season have outweighed her third-round loss in last year's Open. Over the past 12 months (including the 1998 U.S. Open), she has played 25 matches on hardcourts, and lost only 4. In each of those losses (to Spirlea, Graf, Testud, and Venus), she won a set.

Martina Hingis's overall strength in the statistics, and a favourable draw, is enough to give her favouritism, but I know I'll be backing Serena to go all the way in the coming fortnight. Only four women can realistically win the event - you know who they are.

ODDS	Player(s)
7/4	Hingis
5/2	Serena Williams
3/1	Davenport
4/1	Venus Williams
(25/1	everyone combined, apart from the big four!)
40/1	Seles
150	Pierce, Novotna
400	Schett
500	Rubin
1000	Testud, Halard-Decugis, Sanchez-Vicario, Coetzer

SRI Rankings U.S. Open Special. Outdoor Hardcourt Only. 29th Aug 1999
Rank	Name	Rating Points	SRI Rank (all surfaces)	Comments
1	Serena Williams	1925	5	Near-invincible on hardcourts
2	Martina Hingis	1883	1	The favourite, naturally
3	Lindsay Davenport	1846	2	Defending champ a good chance
4	Venus Williams	1782	4
5	Steffi Graf	1711	3
6	Monica Seles	1410	6
7	Chanda Rubin	1268	13	Is capable of upsets
8	Jana Novotna	1265	8
9	Mary Pierce	1263	7
10	Barbara Schett	1166	11
11	Amy Frazier	1165	18
12	Julie Halard-Decugis	1142	19
13	Amanda Coetzer	1124	20
14	Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario	1120	9
15	Sandrine Testud	1103	10
16	Patty Schnyder	1098	21
17	Amelie Mauresmo	1030	14
18	Dominique van Roost	1006	17
19	Anke Huber	969	28
20	Conchita Martinez	940	16
21	Henrieta Nagyova	929	36
22	Ai Sugiyama	927	33
23	Lisa Raymond	922	27
24	Mary Joe Fernandez	863	24
25	Brie Rippner	859	42
26	Maria A. Sanchez Lorenzo	852	44
27	Elena Likhovtseva	837	22
28	Anna Kournikova	836	12
29	Jennifer Capriati	825	23
30	Nathalie Tauziat	818	15
50	Nathalie Dechy	678	35	WTA #25
NQ	Jelena Dokic	659	25	Inexperience will show

SRI Rankings Top 50 Issue #W81. 29th Aug 1999
Rank	Name	Rating Points	Rank Change	WTA Rank
1	Martina Hingis	1786	0	1
2	Lindsay Davenport	1710	+1	2
3	Steffi Graf	1680	-1	3
4	Venus Williams	1644	+1	4
5	Serena Williams	1629	-1	8
6	Monica Seles	1444	0	5
7	Mary Pierce	1287	0	6
8	Jana Novotna	1174	0	9
9	Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario	1149	+1	11
10	Sandrine Testud	1123	+1	16
11	Barbara Schett	1122	+2	14
12	Anna Kournikova	1122	-3	13
13	Chanda Rubin	1114	-1	22
14	Amelie Mauresmo	1082	0	17
15	Nathalie Tauziat	1074	+1	12
16	Conchita Martinez	1055	+1	18
17	Dominique van Roost	1054	+1	15
18	Amy Frazier	1045	+1	24
19	Julie Halard-Decugis	1044	-4	10
20	Amanda Coetzer	1010	0	7
21	Patty Schnyder	990	+1	19
22	Elena Likhovtseva	988	-1	20
23	Jennifer Capriati	965	+3	40
24	Mary Joe Fernandez	942	-1	35
25	Jelena Dokic	936	0	39
26	Ruxandra Dragomir	928	+6	28
27	Lisa Raymond	928	0	30
28	Anke Huber	925	-4	27
29	Irina Spirlea	914	-1	21
30	Natasha Zvereva	901	-1	23
31	Silvia Farina	899	-1	26
32	Silvija Talaja	891	-1	34
33	Ai Sugiyama	869	0	29
34	Karina Habsudova	863	0	42
35	Nathalie Dechy	859	0	25
36	Henrieta Nagyova	852	+2	33
37	Ines Gorrochategui	841	-1	59
38	Fabiola Zuluaga	830	-1	47
39	Anne-Gaelle Sidot	799	+1	37
40	Gala Leon Garcia	791	-1	45
41	Corina Morariu	786	0	38
42	Brie Rippner	786	+2	58
43	Cristina Torrens Valero	779	+3	52
44	Maria A. Sanchez Lorenzo	777	+1	44
45	Mirjana Lucic	776	-3	41
46	Tamarine Tanasugarn	758	+12	64
47	Anne Kremer	753	+1	31
48	Angeles Montolio	750	+12	69
49	Magui Serna	747	+8	50
50	Sabine Appelmans	740	+1	70
51	Sylvia Plischke	731	-1	32
52	Cara Black	727	-3	54
53	Sarah Pitkowski	726	-6	36
54	Emmanuelle Gagliardi	724	-11	65
70	Kvetoslava Hrdlickova	670	+13	85

Rating Winners:
Venus Williams	+51	(W New Haven 99)
Ruxandra Dragomir	+50	(SF New Haven 99, 1R 98)
Angeles Montolio	+50	(1R+Q New Haven 99)
Tamarine Tanasugarn	+49	(2Q New Haven 98)
Magui Serna	+38	(QF New Haven 99, 1R 98)
Jennifer Capriati	+29	(2Q New Haven 98)

Rating Losers:
Jana Novotna	-48	(RU New Haven 98, 2R 99)
Emmanuelle Gagliardi	-39	(1Q New Haven 98, 2Q ret 99)
Steffi Graf	-37	(W New Haven 98)
Mary Joe Fernandez	-35	(QF New Haven 98)
Julie Halard-Decugis	-32	(SF New Haven 98, 2R 99)

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

blurb version 3.0