JOHNNY WATTERSON ON TENNIS: The women's game should stick to the tried and tested three-setters

" The women of the WTA can pick out matches that are as competitive as any in the men's draw, but the general trend has shown that apart from a fit two Williams sisters, the rankings and expectations of the top seeds are often not being met

Forget five-set matches for women's tennis to earn their equal prize-money. Three sets are just fine thanks, when what is being served up has become so erratic in quality. Sure, equal prize-money please. But could someone find out who is responsible.

It's all just too much now, this choking, those robotic serves that don't have a back up second delivery, fear of the net, the rarity of the 'A' game turning up and the cream on top, the double-faulting streaks.

The issue of depth among the top performers in the professional women's game is one of perception, and the perception at Wimbledon, and so far in this year's US Open, has not been overwhelmingly positive.

The paradox here appears to be that as the top players are consistently being beaten, that surely means that the depth is good.

But that's not the way it is washing. In the absence of the injured Maria Sharapova and the retired Justin Henin, many players have not been performing or have not turned up.

The women of the WTA can pick out matches that are as competitive as any in the men's draw, but the general trend has shown that apart from a fit two Williams sisters, the rankings and expectations of the top seeds are often not being met.

At Wimbledon Zheng Jie, the venerable Chinese player ranked 133 in the world disposed of Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, who had two weeks earlier won the French Open title and become the world number one player in the world, deposing Maria Sharapova.

Zheng earned her way into the draw as a qualifier and went on to then topple the number 15 seed Agnes Szavay.

Tamarine Tanasgarn, a 31-year-old qualifier, got hold of the number two seed, Jelena Jankovic, and wouldn't let go, beating her in two sets 6-3, 6-2, while teenage Polish player Agnieszka Radwanska took out the Russian number four seed, Svetlana Kuznetsova, in three sets.

In the first week of Wimbledon eight of the top seeds departed, the most since the 2000 season. For the first time in Grand Slam history the top two women's seeds did not make it into the fourth round. Maria Sharapova, the third seed, also bid adieu.

By the time the quarter-finals came along all top four seeds had vanished from the draw, which hadn't happened as far back as 1927, when they first started to seed players.

In the first round of this year's US Open, 64 matches were played and only 18 of those in the women's draw went to three sets, the remaining 46 taking the minimum number of sets to complete.

At the same stage in the men's event 30 matches took the minimum three sets with 33 going to four sets or five.

In the second round there were 32 matches played in the women's draw. Less than a third, or 10, were three-set matches with 22 matches ending after just two sets.

At the same stage in the men's draw 13 matches went the minimum distance with 18 matches going four sets or more.

Round three in the women's draw and there were five three-set matches from 16 played, while the men had seven that took more than the minimum to complete.

The point is that the trend at Wimbledon, and up to the quarter-final stage in New York, indicates that the women's draw is more heavily one-sided than the men's event and leaves it open to suggestion that there is an issue with depth.

In the second round at Flushing Meadows the world number one, Ivanovic was again one of the early casualties, this time going out to the 188th-ranked player in the world, Julie Coin of France.

Amelie Mauresmo, the Australian and Wimbledon champion of 2006 and the 32nd seed, easily disposed of her compatriot before dismally hitting 40 unforced errors next game up to lose to Flavia Penetta 6-3, 6-0.

Third seed and 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova went out to Katarina Srebotnik in round three, while the eighth, ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th seeds are, not unexpectedly, all gone before the quarter-final stage.

Compared to Wimbledon, the top players are holding on to their status better with two, four, five, six and seven seeds still competing.

But the quality of the four quarter-finals, where second seed Jankovic, fifth seed Elena Dementieva (who beat Patty Schynder 6-2, 6-3), sixth seed Dinara Safin and the Williams against each other, may confirm that the criticisms observers have been making are accurate, or present the US Open as a window into the competitive nature and high quality of the women's game.

The next four days will also determine whether any player other than the sisters can deliver under pressure.

The two Americans have dominated Wimbledon this century and have won seven of the eight finals played since 2000. They have also competed in all of the Wimbledon finals except when Mauresmo defeated Justin Henin in 2006.

At the US Open the two have won three times since 2000 and one of them is guaranteed a place in the semi-final. Few are willing to bet against the 2008 title again going to the family.

The great irony here, of course, is that their father, Richard, is largely responsible, while all of the other women's coaches at the top level of the game also happen to be men.