The world's best female players congregate for the first time since Wimbledon for the Canadian Masters, beginning on August 8th.
I'm in danger of sounding like a broken record when writing these previews over the next few weeks but after that performance in Stanford, it's obvious that Serena Williams is the player to beat. Serena has often treated these pre-US Open events with indifference in the past, but after all her troubles in the past year, she seems to have returned with more hunger than ever. And that spells danger for the rest of the tour.
Kim Clijsters has followed the Serena route of treating her tennis career like a part-time job since her comeback in 2009 but if that's what it takes to keep the Belgian happy and playing, then tennis is better for it. Retiring for good seems never far from Clijsters' thoughts and she's hinted she might do it next summer so her fans had better enjoy it while they can. She's not played since May due to injury but like the Williams sisters, regular competition doesn't appear to be a requirement for Clijsters to play well.
Czech fans will get the first glimpse of Petra Kvitova since that stunning Wimbledon win. Last year Kvitova went awol on the hard courts as she struggled to come down from the high of another successful run at SW19. A year later, will she be focused and wiser ?
Vera Zvonareva and Marion Bartoli have been the form players on the circuit over the past few weeks. Bartoli dominated Serena for much of their first set in Stanford and really should have pushed the American to three. Fitter than ever and possessing a relentless will to attack, Bartoli is always dangerous. Zvonareva's form has been patchy this year and she's missed a golden chance to press her claims for the world number one spot but she picked up the title in Baku and has looked impressive in Carlsbad so far.
Watch out for big hitting Sabine Lisicki who reached the semis at Wimbledon and can do a lot of damage with that big serve and first strike ability. It's been taking top five calibre players to defeat Lisicki recently and it won't be long before she's up there herself.
