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Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour's Qatar Total Open 2006 will commence today, February 27, 2006, at the Khalifa Tennis Complex, Doha-Qatar.
The stars have arrived and the battle lines are drawn for the intense electrifying tournament.
Australian Open champion Amelie Mauresmo of France has been given the pride of place as the draw was made and the seedings were announced here on Saturday.
Mauresmo, ranked No. 2 in the world, is seeded top in the 28-player field where all the four top seeds get a bye into the second round. Russia’s Nadia Petrova, ranked No. 8, heads the bottom half of the draw and is seeded number two.
The other top seeds include world No. 11 Francesca Schiavone of Italy (seeded number 3) and twice winner of Qatar Open title Anastasia Myskina of Russia, who is seeded number four in the $600,000 tournament where the winner stands to get $95,500 and 195 ranking points on the WTA computer.
Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia (No. 5 seed), former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia (No. 6 seed), another Russian Elena Likhovtseva (No. 7 seed) and Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic (No. 8 seed) are the other notable players in the fray. Indian sensation Sania Mirza, who had earlier confirmed her entry, pulled out following an elbow injury.
Mauresmo who heads the top half of the draw is likely to have a smooth run till the quarter-final where she is likely to meet Likhovtseva while the other quarter-final in the top half could be a face-off between Kuznetsova and Schiavone.
If form and credentials are any indication, then Petrova should meet Hantuchova and Myskina should run into Jankovic in the quarter-finals from the bottom half.
Myskina, who was present at the draw, said she was confident of a good display.
“I’m geared up for this tournament where I have a good record,” Myskina said. “I’ve had a poor run last season, but I am looking forward to good results here,” she added.
The stars have arrived and the battle lines are drawn for the intense electrifying tournament.
Australian Open champion Amelie Mauresmo of France has been given the pride of place as the draw was made and the seedings were announced here on Saturday.
Mauresmo, ranked No. 2 in the world, is seeded top in the 28-player field where all the four top seeds get a bye into the second round. Russia’s Nadia Petrova, ranked No. 8, heads the bottom half of the draw and is seeded number two.
The other top seeds include world No. 11 Francesca Schiavone of Italy (seeded number 3) and twice winner of Qatar Open title Anastasia Myskina of Russia, who is seeded number four in the $600,000 tournament where the winner stands to get $95,500 and 195 ranking points on the WTA computer.
Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia (No. 5 seed), former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia (No. 6 seed), another Russian Elena Likhovtseva (No. 7 seed) and Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic (No. 8 seed) are the other notable players in the fray. Indian sensation Sania Mirza, who had earlier confirmed her entry, pulled out following an elbow injury.
Mauresmo who heads the top half of the draw is likely to have a smooth run till the quarter-final where she is likely to meet Likhovtseva while the other quarter-final in the top half could be a face-off between Kuznetsova and Schiavone.
If form and credentials are any indication, then Petrova should meet Hantuchova and Myskina should run into Jankovic in the quarter-finals from the bottom half.
Myskina, who was present at the draw, said she was confident of a good display.
“I’m geared up for this tournament where I have a good record,” Myskina said. “I’ve had a poor run last season, but I am looking forward to good results here,” she added.
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