Strongest Playing Field in Cincinnati Tennis History Announced

July 13, 2009 03:25 PM

CINCINNATI , July 13, 2009 – The commitment list announced today for the 2009 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters & Women’s Open is the strongest in the 111-year history of the event.  

Only 44 men and 45 women are given direct acceptance into each singles draw, and the last man on the preliminary list is ranked No. 44 while the last woman is ranked No. 49. 

“This is the first year for our upgraded women’s event, and both the men’s and women’s fields will be spectacular,” said tournament director Bruce Flory. “Fans will see all the world’s best players back-to-back in Cincinnati in August.” 

The women kick off play first, and 18 of the top 20 are in the field, led by world No. 1 Dinara Safina as well as Serena Williams , the current holder of three of the four Grand Slam titles.   Venus Williams , this year’s Wimbledon finalist, joins her sister in Cincinnati as does reigning French Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova and reigning Olympic Gold Medalist Elena Dementieva . They will be joined by former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters who is making her return to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in Cincinnati.    

The men’s tournament is equally stacked, with French Open and Wimbledon champion and newly re-seated world No. 1 Roger Federer looking to add a third Cincinnati title. No. 2 Rafael Nadal is expected to return to the place where he clinched the world No. 1 ranking last year. American and Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick will look for a third Cincinnati title. Defending champion and world No. 3 Andy Murray , last year’s finalist Novak Djokovic , and fan favorite James Blake are expected to play as well.

Here is the commitment list for the women’s singles draw:

    Player Nat Rank     Player Nat Rank
  1. Dinara Safina RUS 1   24. Sorana Cirstea ROU 26
  2. Serena Williams USA 2   25. Agnes Szavay HUN 28
  3. Venus Williams USA 3   26. Anna Chakvetadze RUS 30
  4. Elena Dementieva RUS 4   27. Alisa Kelybanova RUS 31
  5. Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS 5   28. Daniela Hantuchova SVK 32
  6. Jelena Jankovic SRB 6   29. Alona Bondarenko UKR 33
  7. Vera Zvonareva RUS 7   30. Carla Suarez Navarro ESP 34
  8. Victoria Azarenka BLR 8   31. Iveta Benesova CZE 35
  9. Caroline Wozniacki DEN 9   32. Shuai Peng CHN 36
  10. Nadia Petrova RUS 10   33. Elena Vesnina RUS 37
  11. Marion Bartoli FRA 11   34. Ai Sugiyama JPN 38
  12. Ana Ivanovic SRB 12   35. Sara Errani ITA 43
  13. Dominika Cibulkova SVK 13   36. Magdalena Rybarikova SVK 40
  14. Agnieszka Radwanska POL 14   37. Sabine K Lisicki GER 41
  15. Flavia Pennetta ITA 15   38. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP 42
  16. Jie Zheng CHN 16   39. Francesca Schiavone ITA 43
  17. Na Li CHN 18   40. Katarina Srebotnik SLO 44
  18. Aleksandra Wozniak CAN 21   41. Gisela Dulko ARG 45
  19. Patty Schnyder SUI 22   42. Ekaterina Makarova RUS 46
  20. Virginie Razzano FRA 23   43. Tamarine Tanasugarn THA 47
  21. Alize Cornet FRA 24   44. Lucie Safarova CZE 48
  22. Kaia Kanepi EST 25   45. Vera Dushevina RUS 49
  23. Sybille Bammer AUT 26   WC Kim Clijsters AUS Un.

 

Here is the commitment list for the men’s singles draw:

    Player Nat Rank     Player Nat Rank
  1. Roger Federer SUI 1   23. Mardy Fish USA 23
  2. Rafael Nadal ESP 2   24. Igor Andreev RUS 24
  3. Andy Murray GBR 3   25. Dmitry Tursunov RUS 25
  4. Novak Djokovic SRB 4   26. Victor Hanescu ROU 26
  5. Juan Martin Del Potro ARG 5   27. Ivo Karlovic CRO 27
  6. Andy Roddick USA 6   28. Richard Gasquet FRA 28
  7. Gilles Simon FRA 7   29. Philipp Kohlschreiber GER 29
  8. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA 8   30. Jurgen Melzer AUT 30
  9. Fernando Verdasco ESP 9   31. Viktor Troicki SRB 31
  10. Fernando Gonzalez CHI 10   32. Albert Montanes ESP 32
  11. Nikolay Davydenko RUS 11   33. Dudi Sela ISR 33
  12. Robin Soderling SWE 12   34. Fabrice Santoro FRA 34
  13. Gael Monfils FRA 13   35. Igor Kunitsyn RUS 35
  14. Tommy Robredo ESP 14   36. Jose Acasuso ARG 36
  15. Marin Cilic CRO 15   37. Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP 37
  16. David Nalbandian ARG 16   38. Nicolas Kiefer GER 38
  17. James Blake USA 17   39. Sam Querrey USA 39
  18. Stan Wawrinka SUI 18   40. Feliciano Lopez ESP 40
  19. Tommy Haas GER 19   41. Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA 41
  20. Tomas Berdych CZE 20   42. Nicolas Almagro ESP 42
  21. Radek Stepanek CZE 21   43. Jeremy Chardy FRA 43
  22. David Ferrer ESP 22   44. Lleyton Hewitt AUS 44

In addition to these 45 women and 44 men, the 56-player main draw fields also will include: 

Wild Cards —These are spots in each main draw which are filled at the tournament’s discretion. The selection of four men and two women (of the three women’s wildcards, one has already been granted to Kim Clijsters) will be made between now and the draw ceremonies. The women’s draw ceremony is at noon on Saturday, August 8, and the men’s is at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, August 14.

Qualifiers — The women’s event will feature a 32-player qualifier draw and the men’s event will have a 28-player qualifier. The eight women who win three matches in the qualifying rounds will be placed in the main draw, as will the seven men who win two matches in the qualifying rounds. Women’s qualifying is August 8 & 9 and men’s qualifying is August 15 & 16.

Special Exempt — This is a spot left open in the men’s draw for a player who would have had to go through the qualifying rounds in Cincinnati but who is in the semifinals at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Canada, which are played at the same time as qualifying in Cincinnati. (If this doesn’t occur, the spot is used by the next player in line for direct acceptance.)

Players who did not gain direct acceptance and may have to qualify include Marat Safin and Carlos Moya, both of whom have been ranked No. 1 in the world, and Ernests Gulbis, a quarterfinalist here last year. 


On the women’s side, notable players who are below the cut-off line include Natalie Dechy (2008 W&SFG Women’s Open finalist), Maria Kirilenko (‘08 semifinalist here), Jelena Dokic (former world No. 4), Nicole Vaidisova (two-time Grand Slam semifinalist) and Melaine Oudin (the 16-year-old from Georgia who reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon this year).

The 2009 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters & Women’s Open will be held August 8-23 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio. For tickets or information visit www.cincytennis.com or call the tournament 513-651-0303. Tickets also are available via TicketMaster at 800-745-3000, or www.ticketmaster.com.

 

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