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Strongest Playing Field in Cincinnati Tennis History Announced

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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