US Open: Women's Preview

Here is the secrettennisjunkie US Open preview for the women.  We thought we knew the hands down favorite, but then Serena injured her foot, and again we have a wide open women's tournament.  A number of players could win.  Part of me doesn't think anyone is good enough to win but someone has to.

Players I think can win:  Kim Clijsters (BEL) or Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS).  Second tier hopes are Victoria Azarenka (BLR) or Maria Sharapova (RUS).  Fringe candidates are Venus Williams (USA), Caroline Wozniacki (DEN), and Vera Zvonareva (RUS).  I list so many because anyone of these players could lose in the first round.
Dark Horses:  Marion Bartoli (FRA), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS), Dinara Safina (RUS)
Former champions in the draw:  Venus (2000-1), Kuznetsova (2004), Clijsters (2005,9), Sharapova (2006)
Other slam winners in the draw:  Ivanovic, Schiavone
Former girls' champions in the draw:  Dokic (1998), Bartoli (2001), Kirilenko (2002), Flipkens (2003), Krajicek (2004), Azarenka (2005), Pavlyuchenkova (2006), Kucova (2007), Vandeweghe (2008), Watson (2009).  Several of these players are playing in qualifying, and actually Kucova-Dokic is a potential 2nd round qualifying rounds.  Not too much success by these players at the senior level.

A brief word with my thoughts on the top 15:
1) Wozniacki - I think she would have to have the right draw to go deep (like last year), and I'm still not sure she can beat the best players on the biggest stages.
2) Clijsters - Defending champion and probably the favorite, but will have to avoid a bad match like at the AO.
3) Venus - Last match was a Wimbledon quarterfinal loss to Pironkova (just think on that!).  Probably too inconsistent to survive seven matches, but still has to be considered a threat.
4) Jankovic - She's been playing bad tennis lately, ripe for an upset.  I don't expect much.
5) Stosur - If the real Sam shows up, she'll be a threat to go deep, then who knows?
6) Schiavone - A quarterfinal would probably be a bonus, she needs to milk her high seeds for as long as possible
7) Zvonareva - I expect her to go deep here, then we'll see if she can get over the hump and win some big matches.
8) Li - Anything less than a quarterfinal would be disappointment, quietly having a very solid year.
9) Radwanska - Maybe a quarterfinal, she hasn't been able to beat players better than her.
10) Azarenka - Assuming the injury isn't bad, I would see a good deep run, with the title a possibility.
11) Kuznetsova - This is a real chance for a 3rd slam, needs a killer instinct to close matches out.
12) Dementieva - Perhaps the best chance for her first slam, but really needs to take her game up a notch.  I'm not seeing it though.
13) Bartoli - Maybe a quarterfinal, but ditto Radwanska
14) Sharapova - Ditto Azarenka
15) Wickmayer - Will struggle to defend her semi points here, she's been very up and down lately.