After the sun, clear skies and a final goodbye to the popular Tier 1 event that is San Diego, the stars of the WTA Tour swiftly move up the West Coast to Los Angeles for the East West Bank Classic at the site of the Home Depot Center.

One of the best fields ever seen at the Los Angeles tournament have gathered for an assault on the title, as well as getting those crucial matches in before the final Grand Slam of the year, in New York.

Leading the field, and coming off the back of her first title of the year, Maria Sharapova is looking much more confident about her troublesome shoulder (which has plagued Maria's year since it started during the quarter-finals of the Australian Open back in January) and showed her class to retain her Tier 1 San Diego title. As this was San Diego's final tournament, Maria wrote her names in the history books.

'If Sharapova can hit a high percentage of first serves at a pretty good average speed then she dictates the points as well as anybody else on Tour'


The Russian's serve was looking much better than it had since the Australian Open, and that weapon is the key ingredient in her armour. If Sharapova can hit a high percentage of first serves at a pretty good average speed then she dictates the points as well as anybody else on Tour. Look back to the 2006 US Open Final and you see how the Sharapova serve stretched Henin time and time again, and Maria used her impressive one-two game to devastating effect. If that weapon keeps working, and the patience remains in the ground shots, then Maria may just pick up her second title of 2007 and 17th of her career.

Two of the most talked about players of 2007 have been the impressive and high rising Serbians, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic. Both girls are undoubtedly having the best year of their careers and on their day can beat just about any other player. Jankovic will be looking to bounce back from her third round loss in San Diego to Maria Kirilenko, and Ivanovic will want to get straight back into her stride following her break after Wimbledon.

Jankovic has won the most matches on Tour and is now sitting at No 3 in the world but she knows this is where she must really push on now as it was around this time last year she really started to kick on and has a huge amount of ranking points to defend, whereas Ivanovic will be looking for a spring-board week right into the defence of her Rogers Cup crown in Toronto next week.

The defending champion of this week's event is Russia's Elena Dementieva who has endured a tough year and knows it has to be turned around within the next couple of weeks. Her serve is always going to hurt her, but once she gets through that, the bounce and speed of the American hard courts will suit her game perfectly and she will be gunning for a showdown with Sharapova.

The rest of the draw throws up some big names on the WTA Tour such as Nadia Petrova, Martina Hingis, Daniela Hantuchova, Marion Bartoli and Dinara Safina and not to mention the dangerous and inform players such as Sania Mirza, Maria Kirilenko, Michaella Krajicek and Lucie Safarova. As the US Open draws a week close,r the tennis in the city of Angels has the potential to be as hot as the Los Angeles sun and as dramatic as a top Hollywood blockbuster from across town.