The One with the three way race to the number 1

The WTA Championship will start tonight and we will witness the tightest race in the WTA Tour's history ever. Amelie Mauresmo, Justine Henin Hardenne and Maria Sharapova has the chance to end this year as the number one player in the world.

The current top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo, is hurt and will stagger into this WTA Championships. In order for the defending champion to end the year as the number one player in the world, she has to defend the title ( which is unlikely to me,imo ), Justine has to finish last in the group ( which is unlikely too, this is Henin we're talking about.) and Maria fail to reach the final. However, if she fail to defend the title this year, Mauresmo still can claim that 2006 is her best year to date sinced she did captured two Grand Slams this year and was on top of the ranking since March 2006.

As for the third-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne, she hasn't played in two months due to a right knee injury during the Fed Cup final. Justine holds the advantage, if she finishes higher than third in her group and Sharapova fails to reach the final, the much coveted No. 1 spot is hers. Henin has had an incrdible season this year, reahing all four Grand Slams final, in the final of Federation Cup and winner of the French Open. She only entered 12 tournaments this season and she won 5 of them. Should she able to carry that momentum of hers, we'll see at the YEC.

So, where does that leave Maria Sharapova? Well, in order for her to end the year as number 1, she need to go all the way and claim the YEC title, like she did in 2004. Judging by the fitness of the other top three seeds, Sharapova is likely to claim the tile. Since winning the San Diego title during the US Open Series, she carry on the momentum to claim her second Grand Slam, which silenced the critics that the Wimbledon was not a fluke afterall. Ever since, she's on a roll at the second half of this season, claimed 3 consecutive titles and is 24-1 in the summer hard court season. Pretty impressive for a player who is on her third full season eh? Even if she didn't claim the number one title, she still had a very consistent and impressive year. But then, if the momentum is on your side, why not just carry it on till the end right?


p/s: Would love to see Henin-Sharapova final again.