i don´t know if any of you picked up on the news that Maria will not participate in the Hong Kong Invitational after all, she feels it´s more important for her to take part of a wta tournament, in order to collect ranking points which will help her get back among the top 5 in the rankings during the next year.

i think this is great news, a step in the right direction towards the place where she belongs.

I hope we soon get more info on the subject, i think sydney could be a tournament to look out for, taking her overall ambitions into consideration. It she enter the top ten within the first six months of next year she will only have the opportunity to attend two 200.000$ tournaments, and we all know that Birmingham is mandatory in her book, which pretty much excludes all the other tournaments taking place as a part of the aussie open warm up.

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Thanx for the news! [H] I agree it's the right step in the present circumstances. I, too, like the idea of Sydney--they have a clean draw and I'm at ease with them. Brisbane not so much, though that provides a week off before the AO and Sydney is right before it.

If she were looking for a smaller venue, I'd urge her to consider Auckland. The Kiwis would love it and I bet midaso would go and give us on the ground commentary!