At the final women's tour event before the U.S. Open last week in Connecticut, four of the eight seeded players in the draw were Russians: #3 Dementieva, #4 Petrova, #5 Kuznetsova and #8 Myskina. Only one, Kuznetsova, made it as far as the semi-finals, where she was pulverized by #2 seed Henin-Hardenne. Kuznetsova only reached the semis by drawing a feeble Dementieva (who was stretched to three sets by the world #18 in her first match) in the quarters, while both Petrova and Myskina lost their opening matches against players not ranked in the world's top 25. Once again, the vast majority of the Russian field was eliminted by lower-ranked, usually much lower ranked, competition -- when there should have been an excellent chance of a Russian taking the title and even of an all-Russian final. To read the pathetic, Neo-Soviet rationalizations of Russia's tennis czar Shamil Tarpichchev, who not long ago predicted a "Russian tsunami" would sweep through the women's game, click here.

Meanwhile, Russia (the host country), after squeaking by New Zeland, has been booted out of the FIFIA U-20 women's world championship in the quarter-finals, getting crushed there by China (4 nil).