Indoor Season Kicks Off in Stuttgart

US Open champion Serena Williams headlines a star-studded cast at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix this week, where eight of the world's Top 10 players will do battle for Tier II glory. For the first time in a decade Wimbledon champion Venus Williams is in the field as the sixth seed, along with current world No.2 Jelena Jankovic, red-hot Russian Dinara Safina, and Olympic champion Elena Dementieva.
 
With her triumph at Flushing Meadows and runner-up finish to sister Venus at Wimbledon, Serena proved she still knows how to deliver on the sport's biggest stages. Having celebrated her 27th birthday on the 26th of September and playing for the first time since she reclaimed the world No.1 ranking, the American will be keen to underline her status as the best in the world.
 
If the form guide holds, the first seed Serena should run into is Svetlana Kuznetsova, who in fact defeated the younger Williams sister in the quarters here last year - and as the No.5 seed could be her opponent in the very same round this week. Kuznetsova has thrived on a busy schedule of late, leading Russia to its fourth Fed Cup victory in five years before reaching back-to-back finals at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and the China Open in Beijing. She is probably due a title for all her efforts, and will be all the more dangerous for it.
 
The top half of the draw also harbors Dementieva as the No.4 seed, as well as the most recent new arrival in the world's Top 10, Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska. Seeded eighth in Stuttgart and with three tournament wins under her belt this season, the 19-year-old has the composure to beat anybody.
 
In the other half of the draw - and still very much within striking distance of the No.1 ranking - Jankovic, the No.2 seed, will want to keep up the momentum that saw her capture the China Open on Sunday. Eyes will also be trained on Safina to see if the No.3 seed can carry her near flawless run of recent months to the indoor season and a fifth title of the year; posing a threat too is No.7 seed Vera Zvonareva, who won her second title of the year at Guangzhou recently, and gave Jankovic a real fight in the semis at Beijing.
 
With a direct-entry ranking cut-off of No.36, danger lurks at every turn for the seeds, however. Unseeded but experienced contenders include recent Bali champion Patty Schnyder, Beijing quarterfinalist Daniela Hantuchova, Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli and 2006 Stuttgart champion Nadia Petrova; hot on their heels are next-generation stars such as Victoria Azarenka, Agnes Szavay, Alizé Cornet and Dominika Cibulkova.
 
Following her impressive comeback run at the US Open, wildcard Anna-Lena Groenefeld will be out to show German fans she is ready to return to the top echelons of the sport. But the draw has not been kind to the 23-year-old former world No.14, who faces a tough opener against Venus Williams.
 
Stuttgart also boasts a first-rate doubles competition: Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbs are the top seeds, followed by Australian Open champions Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko, and Azarenka and Radwanska. The Williams sisters, who were of course the Olympic gold medalists at Beijing, are the No.4 seeds.

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