Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Collin Matiza
6 November 2007
Harare — Top Zimbabwean women's tennis player Cara Black and her American partner Liezel Huber will this week feature in the prestigious season wrap-up Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid, Spain.
Black and Huber will be among the stars assembled for the event, which returns to the Spanish capital for the second year in succession. The tournament will showcase the top eight singles performers and top four doubles teams of 2007 who will be battling it out for the winner's share of the US$3 million prize.
Number one seeds in the doubles event will be the Australian Open and Wimbledon doubles champions Black and Huber and their opponents in a highly competitive field will come in the form of the number two seeds Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Japan's Ai Sugiyama, the number three Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung of Taiwan and the number four Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Australia's Rennae Stubbs.
This marks the first appearance for the team of Srebotnik and Sugiyama at the season-ender, having just paired at the beginning of the year. It is Srebotnik's third individual trip (she qualified with Tina Krizan in 2001 and 2002) while Sugiyama makes her sixth (but first since 2003, when she was runner-up with Belgium's Kim Clijsters). Black's former doubles partner Stubbs enters her 12th season-ending Championships, having made her debut in 1992 and having played the event in nine of the last 10 years (the only exception being 2003). She won the title in 2001 with American Lisa Raymond and was runner-up the last three years with Black. Peschke qualified for the first time in 2006 alongside Francesca Schiavone and now enters her second Championships.
Playing at the Recinto Ferial Casa de Campo, these four best doubles teams of the year will all be vying for a share of the US$250 000 winner's cheque.
Unlike the singles event, the doubles title will be decided in a straight knockout format, with the semi-finals taking place on Saturday and the final the following afternoon. Black and Huber go into this weekend's matches oozing with confidence after lifting their eighth title of the year at the Generali Ladies tournament in Linz, Austria, two weeks ago.
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