Semifinal pairings set for BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup

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BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup

Serena Williams will face Kim Clijsters and Svetlana Kuznetsova will play Venus Williams in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup, exhibition event to take place March 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The semifinal pairs were determined according to the 2009 year-end rankings. The highest-ranked player was paired with the lowest ranked, and the remaining two are to face each other.

The exhibition features no ad scoring format, and each participant will compete in a one-set semifinal with the winners advancing to a best of three-set final.

17 COMMENTS

  1. I got my tickets for this nite at Madison square garden, I can’t wait for it. gosh I can’t believe that front row was going from 1000.00 dollars!.
    Anyhow you could find a seat as cheap as 25 bucks
    for this nite. I would like to say no matter who
    wins that nite I will route for both Venus and
    Serena. And hope that their is a Williams final
    like last year. Only that Venus wins this year!.
    I think what jacob is asking is how Venus was
    chosen Marija?. From what I know they choose
    her because of her performance at Doha and mexico
    wins and because of Wimbledon final. They could
    have gone with Dinara, or Azarenka because both
    did well last year in the standings and finals
    as well. Watch next years MSG will have Henin
    for sure, and if Serena doesn’t win Wimbledon.
    Venus sure should do well this year there so
    she might be choosen again. And then Clijster
    maybe again.

  2. Kiaha, I think they chose the Williams sisters firstly because the audience in New York is interested in seeing them the most, and secondly because of their recent successes.

    I think Jacob is talking about who will win the exhibition…

  3. I think I stated that in my sentence Jacob, and
    Marija. She was chosen due to her performance.
    She won 2 matches, and her consistency in the
    Wimbledon Finals 3x in row. And I think it had
    to do with Billie Jean King as the person who
    picked her due in part too. Like I said earlier
    they could have gone with Azarenka who won
    titles too that year but they didn’t. Or
    Even maybe Dinara, or Jelena Jankovic. It was at
    the sole discretion of her.

  4. Jacob, I think she does, or at least plays a large role. I think they primarily think of the attendance, which players are likely to attract the audience.

  5. The places go to the last 4 people who won slams I think so Serena, Kuznetsova and Clijsters and then Venus was the last person to win a slam besides those three at Wimbledon 2008.

  6. Okay so the initial participants are chosen by the grand slam winners of the year, Serena, Kim, and Svetlana. Then Because they need a 4th, Venus would be the most obvious choice option, because she was the last person to win a grand slam before those 3 players and was a grand slam and YEC finalist. Because Serena drops out, the next previous grandslam champion before Venus was Ana. There makes perfect sense. If another drops out then the next alternate should be Maria Sharapova.

  7. It’s all about marketability and ticket sales and box office draw. Don’t forget sports is a business. The Williams sisters are a ticket draw. I would have replaced Serena with Maria Sharapova or Jelena. Maybe they were not available so they went to Ana?

  8. There was one person that told us here that Maria and Justine rejected to take part, but I saw no confirmation to that story.

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