WTA July 19-25 JPMorganChase Open Los Angeles, CA Tier II $585,000 - 56 players - outdoor: hard draw, .pdf Yahoo! JPMCO news photos LA forecast - Local Radar s1 # 14 Serena Williams s2 # 15 Venus Williams s3 # 5 Lindsay Davenport s4 # 6 Elena Dementieva Internazionali Femminili Palermo, ITA Tier V $110,000 - 32 players - outdoor: red clay draw, .pdf order of play draw, .html Italian Tennis Federation s1 # 57 Klara Koukalova s2 # 58 A Medina Garrigues s3 # 63 Denisa Chladkova s4 # 68 Katarina Srebotnik

Tourney pages: LA: 2005 - 2003 Palermo: 2005 previous other tourney pages next Los Angeles: #5 Lindsay Davenport 6'2½", 175 lbs, RH, 2H-BH Palermo: #58 Anabel Medina Garrigues 5'6½", 130 lbs, RH, 2H-BH

    Seed That!: On Sunday in the final of the JP Morgan Chase Open in Los Angeles, 28-year-old 3rd-seeded # 5 Lindsay Davenport of the US defeated her compatriot, top-seeded 22-year-old # 14 Serena Williams 6-1, 6-3 (photo shown).
    It was the 2nd week in a row that Lindsay had defeated a lower-ranked, yet higher-seeded (due to previous injuries), Williams sister in a final. Lindsay said: "It's unbelievable. I never quite thought this would happen."
    Lindsay had only 12 unforced errors in the match, and only 1 in the 1st set. Lindsay said: "One unforced error for me in a set is like a miracle... I was really solid. I didn't know what to expect from Serena. She gave me a lot of errors but I thought I was able to make some good serves and run down some balls... She has the best serve in women's tennis. Today I was able to get my racket on the ball and assert myself on the second serve."
    Serena said: "I didn't play the way I wanted to, but all credit to Lindsay. She played a great match."

    On Sunday in the final of the Internazionali Femminili in Palermo, almost-22-year-old 2nd-seeded # 58 Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain won her 2nd WTA title by defeating 5th-seeded 22-year-old # 74 Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-4, 6-4 (the photo shown, from the WTA site, might be from Palermo, or might be a file photo--they never say). Anabel has been playing well lately; she was also instrumental in Spain's 3-2 Fed Cup defeat of Belgium a couple of weeks ago.

Los Angeles
    28-year-old Californian Lindsay has now won 42 WTA singles titles in 75 finals (if you include the 1996 Olympic title), including 3 Grand Slam tourneys. She won # 41 at Stanford last week, defeating Venus Williams in the final. Before the ascent of the Williams sisters, Tracy Austin was quoted as rating Lindsay's serve as the best in the WTA. Lindsay hits the ball hard and deep, but she is not as mobile as Serena or her sister Venus. Lindsay wears Nike and hits with a Wilson "H Tour". Lindsay, who was trained in her youth by Robert Lansdorp (the current coach of Maria Sharapova), has been coached by Adam Peterson since March, 2003.
    22-year-old Serena has won 24 WTA singles finals, including 6 Grand Slam tourneys. Since recovering from knee surgery last August, her performance this year has been less consistent than before. Serena has a huge contract to wear Nike togs (she was formerly of the Puma persuasion) and she has always swung a Wilson bat, not the H-Tour preferred by Davenport & Henin-Hardenne, but a Hyper Hammer 6.2 with a 110 sq." head.
    Serena still leads Lindsay 9-3 in career matches.

    The main draw for Los Angeles had 16 seeds, with 8 1st-round byes. There were 4 qualifiers and 3 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals were on Sunday.
    Los Angeles time is GMT (UCT, ZULU) + 7 hours (=US Pacific Daylight Time, EDT +3). Early round play begins at 11am local time. Los Angeles does NOT have live scoring.
    The JPMorganChase Open is the 2nd WTA "US Open Series" tourney. What is the US Open Series?

Palermo:
    Spaniard Anabel will turn 22 next Saturday. She also won the title at Palermo 3 years ago; she has reached 3 other WTA singles finals with no luck. She has won 6 ITF singles titles, including one earlier this year in Marseille. Anabel, who was born and resides in Valencia, did not begin playing tennis until age 12, very unusual in the WTA nowadays. Anabel wore Lotto earlier this year, but recently has been attired in adidas garb; she chops with a Wilson axe. Anabel, who is coached by Gonzalo Lopez, won the Palermo doubles final on Saturday, teamed with semi-retired former WTA singles # 1 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.
    22-year-old Italian Flavia was playing in only her 2nd WTA singles final; she was defeated earlier this year by Iveta Benesova in the final in Acapulco. She has won 7 ITF singles titles, the most recent was earlier this month at Cuneo. Born in Brindisi, Flavia resides in Milan. Flavia started playing tennis at age 5. She uses a Head bat and wears Tacchini togs, but with Nike shoes (since Martina Hingis, and earlier, Pete Sampras, cited troubles with Tacchini shoes, a number of players in Tacchini garb have opted for different footwear). Flavia is coached by Barbara Rossi.

    The main draw for Palermo had 8 seeds, with NO 1st-round byes. There were 4 qualifiers and 2 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals were on Monday.
    The time in Italy is UCT (GMT, Zulu, Greenwich...) plus 2 hours. That is 9 hours ahead of PDT in the US, 6 hours ahead of EDT. Early round play begins at 3:00pm local (7am PDT, 9am EDT). Palermo does NOT have live scoring.

WTA SCOREBOARD: Los Angeles & Palermo s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"?

Los Angeles, 1st Round, Mon-Tues loser's prize: $1,730 US; points: 1 #16 s9 Patty Schnyder SUI d #96 Lindsay Lee-Waters USA 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 Tues #17 s10 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi ISR d #54 Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP 6-2, 6-1 Tues #18 s11 Francesca Schiavone ITA d #83 Shenay Perry USA 6-0, 6-3 Mon *#70 Akiko Morigami JPN d #19 s12 Silvia Farina Elia ITA 6-2, 6-4 Mon Akiko Morigami *#59 Anca Barna GER d #23 s13 Fabiola Zuluaga COL 6-1, 6-1 Mon #24 s14 Chanda Rubin USA d #98 q Marissa Irvin USA 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(5) Mon Chanda Rubin #25 s15 Amy Frazier USA d #76 Alina Jidkova RUS 6-2, 6-2 Tues Amy Frazier #48 Jelena Jankovic SCG d #29 s16 Meghann Shaughnessy USA 7-6(2), 2-6, 7-5 Tues #31 Nathalie Dechy FRA d #36 Conchita Martinez ESP 6-4, 6-4 Mon Nathalie Dechy #32 Maria Vento-Kabchi VEN d #51 Gisela Dulko ARG 6-2, 6-2 Tues #33 Eleni Daniilidou GRE d #95 wc Teryn Ashley USA 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 Tues #35 Daniela Hantuchova SVK d #106 Cara Black ZIM 6-2, 6-4 Tues Daniela Hantuchova     Daniela has gained about 11 pounds since trainer Marian Gejdos started helping with her physical conditioning in December, 2003. Daniela said: "I feel like I can do some damage now. I feel so much stronger. I feel like I've got a lot more power on my strokes, and I feel faster on the court also. It's helped my overall fitness. I just feel really, really strong and I know if I hit my shots the right way it will be hard to play against me." story #37 Elena Likhovtseva RUS d #147 q Vilmarie Castellvi PUR 6-3, 6-2 Tues #38 Jelena Kostanic CRO d #79 Martina Sucha SVK 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-2 Mon #41 Nicole Pratt AUS d #46 Petra Mandula HUN 0-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 Tues #44 Tina Pisnik SLO d #67 Barbora Strycova CZE 4-6, 6-4, 6-2Mon *#227 q Lilia Osterloh USA d #45 Saori Obata JPN 7-5, 7-5 Mon *#87 Barbara Schett AUT d #49 Claudine Schaul LUX 6-3, 6-4 Tues *#65 Marion Bartoli FRA d #50 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 Mon #55 Iveta Benesova CZE d #153 q Abigail Spears USA 6-3, 6-4 Tues *#284 wc Jessica Kirkland USA d #56 Tathiana Garbin ITA 6-1, 6-3 Mon *#61 Arantxa Parra Santonja ESP d #60 Jill Craybas USA 7-6(7), 7-6(3) Mon Arantxa Parra Santonja *#115 wc Ashley Harkleroad USA d #66 Shinobu Asagoe JPN 6-3, 6-2 Mon Ashley Harkleroad     Ashley said: "It took me a while to get a feel for the match, and then I started to play well and did the things I needed to do. My game is coming together. I was aggressive when I needed to be." story *#125 LL Anne Kremer LUX d #80 Laura Granville USA 6-3, 5-7, 6-0 Mon

Los Angeles, 2nd Round, Tues-Weds loser's prize: $3,360 US; points: 14 #5 s3 Lindsay Davenport USA d #125 LL Anne Kremer LUX 7-5, 6-2 Wed Lindsay Davenport #6 s4 Elena Dementieva RUS d #227 q Lilia Osterloh USA 6-4, 6-2 Tues Elena Dementieva     Elena said: "It's difficult for me to play here because I just came from home [Moscow] and I need some time to adjust with the time difference and these hot conditions. I feel fine, but I need a couple of days to feel my best." #9 s5 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS d #32 Maria Vento-Kabchi VEN 6-3, 6-3 Wed     Svetlana said: "I think I played well for my first match in a while. It was tough because she already had matches at Stanford, but I felt good." story #10 s6 Ai Sugiyama JPN d #41 Nicole Pratt AUS 6-2, 6-4 Wed #12 s7 Nadia Petrova RUS d #284 wc Jessica Kirkland USA 6-2, 6-3 Tues #13 s8 Vera Zvonareva RUS d #44 Tina Pisnik SLO walkover- neck strain Wed #14 s1 Serena Williams USA d #33 Eleni Daniilidou GRE 6-1, 7-6(3) Wed Serena Williams     Serena said: "I think I struggled a bit today in the second set. It was too hot out there, but I managed to have a good tie-break and close out the match. Eleni doesn't have a traditional game, and anticipates the ball really well. But I could say that I played a solid game." #15 s2 Venus Williams USA d #115 wc Ashley Harkleroad USA 6-2, 6-1 Tues Venus Williams     Venus said: "[Ashley is] a good player. She's very consistent, she moves well and she's solid. It's important to go out and force the issue, which I did today. If I can just go out and overpower somebody, it can be intimidating." story     Ashley said: "There are a lot of things I need to improve on. It's very difficult to get a rhythm against [Venus] because she either misses by 10 feet or hits the lines. Most of the time, she was right on the lines... I'm the type of player that defends a lot, but that's difficult when you play her. You need to go for it. Why stay back by the fence and run? That's no fun for me." *#38 Jelena Kostanic CRO d #16 s9 Patty Schnyder SUI 6-1, 7-6(5) Wed #17 s10 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi ISR d #35 Daniela Hantuchova SVK 7-6(5), 6-4 Wed Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi     Anna said: "It was a very close match. The points could have gone any way, and [Daniela] had many good points as well. She probably doesn't like my game because she likes pace, and the balls weren't really in her hitting zone... Every player doesn't like the kind of game I play. It was a close match and I won the key points, which is how I won the match. She won many other points, but when it was necessary to win the match, I won... My game is to run a lot of balls back and make the rallies longer. It's in my favor when that is part of my game... It helps with my confidence, but it was a tough match and takes my energy away." story #18 s11 Francesca Schiavone ITA d #31 Nathalie Dechy FRA 7-6(5), 6-2 Wed Francesca Schiavone #24 s14 Chanda Rubin USA d #55 Iveta Benesova CZE 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 Wed #25 s15 Amy Frazier USA v #87 Barbara Schett AUT 6-4, 6-4 Wed #37 Elena Likhovtseva RUS v #48 Jelena Jankovic SCG 2-6, 0-0 Wed *#61 A Parra Santonja ESP d #59 Anca Barna GER 6-0, 7-6(2) Wed Arantxa Parra Santonja #65 Marion Bartoli FRA d #70 Akiko Morigami JPN 6-2, 6-4 Wed

Los Angeles, 3rd Round, Thurs loser's prize: $6,520 US; points: 25 #5 s3 Lindsay Davenport USA d #25 s15 Amy Frazier USA 6-2, 6-4     Lindsay said: "[Amy] faces much more of an uphill battle than I do. I knew I could break her serve at any moment." #6 s4 Elena Dementieva RUS d #24 s14 Chanda Rubin USA 7-5, 7-6(8) #9 s5 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS d #17 s10 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi ISR 6-3, 6-0 Svetlana Kuznetsova *#18 s11 Francesca Schiavone ITA d #10 s6 Ai Sugiyama JPN 6-3, 0-6, 7-6(3) #12 s7 Nadia Petrova RUS d #38 Jelena Kostanic CRO 6-3, 6-2 #13 s8 Vera Zvonareva RUS d #65 Marion Bartoli FRA 6-2, 6-3 #14 s1 Serena Williams USA d #61 Arantxa Parra Santonja ESP 6-0, 6-3 Serena Williams     Serena said: "[Arantxa] changed up her game and I had to adjust. At first, she was making a lot of errors, then she was hitting lobs. I got used to that pretty quick." #15 s2 Venus Williams USA d #37 Elena Likhovtseva RUS 6-1, 6-1 Venus Williams     About the short match, Venus said: "It was good for me. It's my second week in a row and on hard courts, too. It's easy for things to get sore, the pounding you take. I was just a step faster [than Elena]."

Los Angeles, QFs, Fri story loser's prize: $12,700 US; points: 49 #5 s3 Lindsay Davenport USA d #12 s7 Nadia Petrova RUS 6-1, 6-1 Lindsay Davenport     Lindsay said: "I really thought it was important to try and start well. I really wanted to get off to an aggressive start. [Nadia] was not playing at her normal level and I tried to keep going with what I was doing." #6 s4 Elena Dementieva RUS d #9 s5 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 Elena Dementieva     Svetlana was leading 7-5, 2-1 when Elena twisted her right ankle, and received treatment from the WTA trainer. Elena then won 11 of the next 13 games. Elena said: "I'm very excited about the way I played... I'm not worried about my ankle; I think it will be okay for tomorrow. I have no idea how that happened." *#14 s1 Serena Williams USA d #13 s8 Vera Zvonareva RUS 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 Serena Williams     Serena said: "I was on the defensive and [Vera] was fighting very hard, but I think I moved pretty decent. At the beginning, she surprised me; I thought she would be playing tougher, but after she lost the first three games, she came back pretty tough."     Vera said: "It was a good match today. It was tough to concentrate and that is why I made a couple of important mistakes. [Serena] didn't give me many opportunities and she was playing great; her serve was very good and it was hard to return." #15 s2 Venus Williams USA d #18 s11 Francesca Schiavone ITA 7-5, 6-1 Venus Williams     Venus said: "I don't think I played so much better in the second set. I guess I made less errors. [Francesca] benefited from my errors, plus she plays well. I was playing a good player today."

Los Angeles, SFs, Sat ESPN2-TV 7pm PDT loser's prize: $24,550 US; points: 88 5 s3 Lindsay Davenport USA d #15 s2 Venus Williams USA 7-5, 2-0 retired-- right wrist injury Lindsay Davenport     Venus had injured her right wrist on Saturday morning when she pushed off the ground after tying her shoes. Venus said: "I'm hoping this will clear up in a few days and I'll play next week. I don't know. It just happened." story     Venus took a 5-0 lead as Lindsay got off to a slow start in the 1st set; then Lindsay won 9 straight games as the pain in Venus' wrist increased until it forced her to retire.     Lindsay said: "I definitely didn't start off the match that well, a lot of errors, but I slowly started getting back into the match... I noticed in the latter stages of the match that something was wrong with [Venus]. She has been through a lot of injuries. It's unfortunate... I never imagined I would win so many games in a row. The last few games were ridiculous. Everyone knew she was hurting so much." *#14 s1 Serena Williams USA d #6 s4 Elena Dementieva RUS 6-3, 7-6(2) Serena Williams     Serena said: "[Elena is] weird to play, meaning she strikes winners when you don't expect them and makes errors also unexpectedly, but she never gives up." story     Elena said: "I think I played [well] for the first time against her. I had a slow start, and I needed to play from the first game. Against Serena, you can't give her a big advantage... When you play Serena, you can't really have a gameplan because she doesn't have any weaknesses in her game. You have make adjustments to how she is playing."

Los Angeles, Final, Sun loser's prize: $ 47,800 US; points: 137 winner's prize: $ 93,000 US; points: 195 #5 s3 Lindsay Davenport USA d #14 s1 Serena Williams USA 6-1, 6-3 Lindsay Davenport & Serena Williams

Los Angeles, Doubles Final losers' prize: $15,500 US winners' prize: $29,000 US *cdr17 s4 Nadia Petrova & Meghann Shaughnessy     d cdr16 s3 Virginia Ruano Pascual & Conchita Martinez 6-7(2), 6-4 6-3 Los Angeles, Qual. Finals, Sun Jul 18 #98 Marissa Irvin USA d #159 Angela Haynes USA 7-5, 6-2 *#147 Vilmarie Castellvi PUR d #125 Anne Kremer LUX 6-2, 6-4 *#227 Lilia Osterloh USA d #135 Lioudmila Skavronskaia RUS 6-3, 7-6(3) *#153 Abigail Spears USA d #140 Eugenia Linetskaya RUS 6-4, 6-2 Los Angeles, Withdrawals #7 Jennifer Capriati USA hamstring pull #69 Maria Elena Camerin ITA shoulder injury

Palermo, 1st Round, Mon-Tues loser's prize: $800 US; points: 1 #57 s1 Klara Koukalova CZE d #241 q Darija Jurak CRO 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 Tues #58 s2 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP v #103 Julia Vakulenko UKR 7-5, 6-3 Mon #63 s3 Denisa Chladkova CZE d #162 Barbara Rittner GER 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 Mon #68 s4 Katarina Srebotnik SLO d #113 Sofia Arvidsson SWE 6-3, 6-4 Mon #74 s5 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #111 Mervana Jugic-Salkic BIH 7-6(1), 7-5 Tues *#123 Antonella Serra Zanetti ITA d #75 s6 Lub. Kurhajcova SVK 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 Tues *#93 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER d #78 s7 Melinda Czink HUN 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 Tues #82 s8 Ludmila Cervanova SVK d #310 wc Sandrine Testud FRA 6-4, 7-6(2) Tues *#229 q Delia Sescioreanu ROM d #85 Rita Grande ITA 6-3, 6-3 Tues #92 Henrieta Nagyova SVK d #105 S Cohen-Aloro FRA 6-3, 2-1 retired Tues 97 Emmanuelle Gagliardi SUI d #120 Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 Tues *#114 Yuliana Fedak UKR d #107 Severine Beltrame FRA 6-1, 6-1 Tues #109 Roberta Vinci ITA d #142 Julia Schruff GER 6-3, 6-3 Tues #116 Yulia Beygelzimer UKR d #149 Ad. Serra Zanetti ITA 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 Mon #136 Conchita Martinez Granados ESP d #242 wc Giulia Casoni ITA 6-3, 6-0 Tues #133 q Marta Domachowska POL d #200 q Anastasia Yakimova BLR 6-1, 6-4 Tues

Palermo, 2nd Round, Weds-Thurs loser's prize: $1,450 US; points: 10 #57 s1 Klara Koukalova CZE v #92 Henrieta Nagyova SVK 6-3, 6-0 Thurs #58 s2 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP d #109 Roberta Vinci ITA 7-6, 6-2 Weds #63 s3 Denisa Chladkova CZE d #116 Yulia Beygelzimer 6-3, 6-1 Weds #68 s4 Katarina Srebotnik SLO d #229 q Delia Sescioreanu ROM 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 Weds #74 s5 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #114 Yuliana Fedak UKR 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-2Thurs Flavia Pennetta #82 s8 Ludmila Cervanova SVK d #133 q Marta Domachowska POL 6-4, 6-4 Thurs #93 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER d #97 Emmanuelle Gagliardi SUI 6-0, 6-3 Thurs #123 Antonella Serra Zanetti ITA d #136 Con. Martinez Granados ESP 6-4, 6-0 Weds

Palermo, QFs, Fri loser's prize: $2,600 US; points: 20 *#74 s5 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #57 s1 Klara Koukalova CZE 6-4, 6-2 Flavia Pennetta #58 s2 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP d #93 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER 6-4, 6-3 #63 s3 Denisa Chladkova CZE d #123 Antonella Serra Zanetti ITA 6-4, 6-1 #68 s4 Katarina Srebotnik SLO d #82 s8 Ludmila Cervanova SVK 6-3, 6-4

Palermo, SFs, Sat loser's prize: $4,800 US; points: 36 #58 s2 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP d #63 s3 Denisa Chladkova CZE 6-1, 6-1 Anabel said: "I'm happy to have earned a final in Palermo for a second time since 2001. I played at a good level today and I'm glad the match did not last too long since it's a busy day for me [playing in the doubles final also]." story *#74 s5 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #68 s4 Katarina Srebotnik SLO 6-2, 7-6(1) Flavia Pennetta Flavia said: "I thought the match was in my pocket on 4-0 [in the 2nd set] and I almost lost the set. Italian fans supported me a lot. I'm looking forward to an exciting final against Medina. We know each other very well."

Palermo, Final, Sun loser's prize: $9,000 US; points: 56 winner's prize: $16,000 US; points: 80 #58 s2 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP d #74 s5 Flavia Pennetta ITA 6-4, 6-4

Palermo, Doubles Final, Sun loser's prize: $3,000 US winner's prize: $5,500 US cdr307 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario & Anabel Medina Garrigues d     cdr188 Henrieta Nagyova & Lubomira Kurhajcova 6-3, 76(4) Palermo, Qualifying Finals, Mon #133 Marta Domachowska POL d #263 Alberta Brianti ITA 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 *#229 Delia Sescioreanu ROM d #184 Alice Canepa ITA 6-0, 6-1 #200 Anastasia Yakimova BLR d #285 Tatsiana Uvarova BLR 6-2, 6-4 #241 Darija Jurak CRO d #289 Valentina Sassi ITA 6-3, 6-2

    The JP Morgan Chase Open is the 2nd WTA "US Open Series" tourney.

    What is that thing? The USTA has launched a new promotional framework in 2004 called the US Open Series. The idea is to group together the (mostly) US summer hardcourt tourneys leading up to the US Open. This includes 10 WTA & ATP tourneys in 9 cities over 7 weeks. The USTA says they have created a more orderly TV schedule for these events, including 100 hours of live prime-time (mostly cable) coverage over 6 weeks. US Open Series TV Schedule
    Also, players who do well in these particular tourneys will be awarded "US Open Series Points" at each tourney. This year, the men’s and women’s US Open Series winner (the ones with the most points from all events combined) will each given a 50% bonus over the prize money they earn at the US Open, while the 2nd place finishers in the Series receive an additional 25%, and the 3rd place finishers awarded an additional 10%. That might be a lot of money. In 2005 these bonuses will be even larger, 100% for the winners (that means that if they win the Series and the Open both, their prize money for the US Open plus bonus will exceed $2 million), 50% for 2nd, and 25% for 3rd.

    Opinion: This should work well for the USTA, WTA, and ATP if they explain it well enough to the fans, and if the TV is really good. Unfortunately the TV is still spread over 5 different cable and broadcast networks. And there has been a strong tendency in TV tennis to show boring blowout matches that feature overly hyped big names, while close, exciting matches between unhyped names are ignored. If they keep showing matches that they know in advance from the pairings are likely to wind up 6-1, 6-0, and the announcers do us the favor of reminding us every few minutes of how boring the match that they chose to show is, then no amount of additional promotion is going to help.
    The down side: The prize money bonuses are strictly a rich get richer deal. This is great for people who are already making millions, but does little or nothing for journeyman players whose annual prize money is in 5 figures instead of 7. Their only advantage is if the scheme really helps increase interest in tennis as a whole, sells more tickets, and raises TV ratings. That might seem iffy to them. If it works, great. To make it work, they have to do the TV really well.
    On second thought: It is unfortunate that the USTA, ATP, & WTA think they will get the best "hype" value by handing out extra millions to already rich players, while they can't afford to give the poor fans good live scoring and a good photo gallery at every tourney. Improved tourney websites with live scores and lots of good daily photos would be much better ways to sustain fan interest over the pro tennis season, so that people fill the seats when the show comes to town.

The WTA tourneys in the US Open Series are:
Bank of the West Classic, Los Angeles
JP Morgan Chase Open, Los Angeles
?Acura Classic, San Diego (possibly)
Rogers AT&T Canada Cup, Toronto, CAN
Olympic Tennis, Athens GRE (apparently)
Pilot Pen Open, New Haven

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