Serena looks to end season as number one
Serena looks to end season as number one
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By James Christie. |  |
Monday, 26, Oct 2009 01:05
By Michael Younger.
Serena Williams must overcome elder sister Venus to end this season as women's world number one ahead of Russia's Dinara Safina after the Americans were placed in the same round-robin group at the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha.
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour reaches the 39th staging in the Qatari capital and Serena - who has slipped down to second in the latest rankings after just two weeks in top spot - will be looking to regain the number one ranking this week.
But to get there, Williams will have to beat her ever-competitive sister, number seven seed Venus in the Maroon group round-robin, which also features number three seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and number five seed Elena Dementieva.
Current number one seed Safina, who lost all three of her round-robin matches 12 months ago, will face number four seed Caroline Wozniacki, number six seed Victoria Azarenka and number eight seed Jelena Jankovic in the White Group round-robin.
Safina has come in for criticism throughout 2009 for being number one despite never having won a Grand Slam title, but the 23-year-old has said of her critics: "I don't care anymore. They can say whatever they want.
"I have been in three Grand Slam finals and I've been in two semis. Last year I was winning every tournament and they were asking me why I'm not number one.
"This year I became number one, there is no Grand Slam. It's not that I don't want to win a Grand Slam but you're not a robot that you can play 100 per cent all the time."
One of Safina's biggest critics is her rival for the number one seed, Serena, who could end the season as number one seed in both the singles and doubles disciplines if her and Venus reach the doubles final.
Looking to prevent the Williams' from gaining the number one doubles seed are current co-world number ones Cara Black and Liezel Huber, who won five titles and are gunning for a third straight SEC crown this week.
Absent from the singles line-up is US open champion Kim Clijsters, who is ranked 18th as she has only played four tournaments since coming out of retirement, and Maria Sharapova, who is 15th in the world as she makes her way back after a nine-month injury lay-off.