Olympus US Open Series

The Olympis US Open Series is a group of several tournaments after Wimbledon (all in the United States) that lead up to the US Open. Many up and coming players take advantage of this as a springboard for their career. John Isner for example was barely inside the top 100 before, but coming into the semifinals of two tournaments boosted his current ranking to 59. History has also been made as Flavia Pennetta has become the first Italian woman to make it inside the top 10 after she won in Los Angeles and made it the quarterfinals in Cincinatti. But the main headline so far has been the succesful return of Kim Clijsters. In Cincinatti she first defeated former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli, then advanced to knock outworld no.7 Patty Schynder, then made an impressive show as she took down former world no.2 and US Open and Roland Garros Champ Svetlana Kuznetsova. She lost in the quarters to World no.1 Dinara Safina. In Toronto she handily took down a qualifier in the first round. Then she defeated her second top 10 opponent this year by beating Victoria Azarenka. In the round of 16, she had a strong start against Jankovic winning the first set 6-1 but couldn't continue and lost the final two sets 2-6 5-7. The US Open Series ends after the US Open. The top 3 players from both men and women play for extra money in the US Open

Current Olympus US Open Series Standings:
1-Juan Del Potro-- 140 pts
2-Sam Querrey--130 pts
3-Andy Murray--125 pts
4-Andy Roddick--90 pts
5-Robby Ginepri--70 pts

Women:
1-Jelena Jankovic---140 pts
2-Flavia Pennetta--115 pts
T3-Elena Dementieva--95 pts
T3-Samantha Stosur--95 pts
T5-Marion Bartoli--70 pts
T5-Dinara Safina--70 pts

***note- the Olympus US Open Series rankings differs from the actual ATP/WTA rankings

Current Top 10 for

Men:
1-Roger Federer
2-Andy Murray (+1)
3-Rafael Nadal (-1)
4-Novak Djokovic
5-Andy Roddick
6-Juan Martin del Potro
7-Jo-Wilfired Tsonga
8-Nikolay Davydenko
9-Gilles Simon
10-Fernando Verdasco (+1)

Women:
1-Dinara Safina
2-Serena Williams
3-Venus Williams
4-Jelena Jankovic (+1)
5-Elena Dementieva (-1)
6-Svetlana Kuznetsova
7-Vera Zvonerava
8-Caroline Wozniacki
9-Victoria Azarenka
10-Flavia Pennetta (+2)

Olympus US Open Series Site: http://www.usopenseries.com/en/Standings/Default.aspx

ATP Site: http://www.atpworldtour.com/

WTA Site: http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/page/Home/0,,12781,00.html

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