BAD GASTEIN, Austria - On the face of it, the July claycourt swing through Europe should have provided Alizé Cornet with rich pickings, given the role the red stuff played in her rapid rise through the ranks last year. After a disappointing couple of weeks the elegant 19-year-old will certainly hope to turn things around this week at the $220,000 NÜRNBERGER Gastein Ladies, where she is the No.1 seed.
In Budapest, the French teen was the defending champion and No.2 seed, but she fell with shocking ease to Shahar Peer in the second round. Last week in Palermo she was seeded third, but had the misfortune of bumping into newly-crowned Bastad champion María José Martínez Sánchez in the opening round. Having ranked as highly as No.11 in February she arrives in the Salzburg region at No.28, but is surely only a confidence-boosting win or two away from a reversal of fortune. First up though is Colombian clay court expert Mariana Duque Marino.
On the other side of the draw at the International series event Francesca Schiavone is the No.2 seed. After eight runner-up finishes, the feisty Italian finally won her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title right here in the mountains in 2007, and is back in town after reaching the final at Prague last week. The player who beat her in the Czech capital, Austria's own Sybille Bammer, is back on home turf as the No.3 seed.
Bad Gastein's fourth seed is Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic, who fell to Bammer in the semis at Prague and opens against Warsaw Open champion Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania. Prague quarterfinalist Carla Suárez Navarro is seeded fifth, Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia is seeded sixth, with Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld - who made the semis at Palermo last week - at No.7 and Lucie Hradecka at No.8.
Hradecka was, of course, runner-up here 12 months ago to France's Pauline Parmentier, who opens her title defense against a qualifier.
Wildcards have been granted to three Austrians: Melanie Klaffner, 2007 runner-up Yvonne Meusburger and Tina Schiechtl, who opens against Schiavone. Other local interest lies in Patricia Mayr, who is based not far way in the Tirol.
Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova are the top seeds in the doubles, coming off a finals showing at Prague, where they succumbed to the Bondarenko sisters. Defending champions Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova are seeded third.
