8 top ten players in doha
WHEN it comes to tennis and glamour, it just can’t get better than this. In what is going to be the biggest and richest tennis tournament to be staged in the country to date, the Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) has lined up some of the hottest female stars of the generation for the February 18-24 Qatar Total Open.
The event, which has been upgraded to Tier One status offering a whopping $2.5mn in prize money, will see the participation of eight players from the world top 10, featuring such youth icons as Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic (World No. 2), Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova (World No. 3) and Maria Sharapova (World No. 5) and American Venus Williams (World No. 6).
Indian Sania Mirza, who at the moment is at the centre of a major storm in her country for deciding against playing the Bangalore Open in March, will also resume her love affair with Doha where she was the toast of fans during the 2006 Asian Games.
Sharapova, 20, the Australian Open champion this year, will be making her second visit to Doha, having won the title in 2005 when she defeated Australian Alicia Molik in the final.
She won Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 2004, was crowned US Open champion in 2006 and her 2008 Australian Open victory means she has just the French Open missing from her Grand Slam trophy cabinet.
Top 10 players missing from the Doha list are World No. 1 Justine Henin and the 10th ranked Serena Williams.
Henin, who won the 2007 title in Doha, has decided to skip the tournament because she will be featuring in the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp the preceding week and was not inclined to play two events in a row.
Ivanovic, who is among several rising Serbs on the professional circuit -– including this year’s men’s Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic -– has already won a trophy carrying Qatar’s name.
That came last year when she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova to win the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin and the Serbian beauty can hope to add to her growing fan base with an excellent show in Doha. Ivanovic will be the top seed in Qatar.
The tournament will also see the participation of an Israeli player for the first time with the World No 17 Shahar Peer entering the fray.
The other big names confirmed for the tournament are Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova (Russia), Amelie Mauresmo (France) and Patty Schnyder (Switzerland).
This year’s tournament will see a total of 64 players taking part. While 56 will be given automatic entry based on their rankings, the remaining eight will have to come through a qualifying process.
The eight top 10 players listed for the Qatar total Open: Ana Ivanovic (Serbia, 2), Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia, 3), Jelena Jankovic (Serbia, 4), Maria Sharapova (Russia, 5), Venus Williams (USA, 6), Anna Chakvetadze (Russia, 7), Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia, 8), Marion Bartoli (France, 9).
The event, which has been upgraded to Tier One status offering a whopping $2.5mn in prize money, will see the participation of eight players from the world top 10, featuring such youth icons as Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic (World No. 2), Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova (World No. 3) and Maria Sharapova (World No. 5) and American Venus Williams (World No. 6).
Indian Sania Mirza, who at the moment is at the centre of a major storm in her country for deciding against playing the Bangalore Open in March, will also resume her love affair with Doha where she was the toast of fans during the 2006 Asian Games.
Sharapova, 20, the Australian Open champion this year, will be making her second visit to Doha, having won the title in 2005 when she defeated Australian Alicia Molik in the final.
She won Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 2004, was crowned US Open champion in 2006 and her 2008 Australian Open victory means she has just the French Open missing from her Grand Slam trophy cabinet.
Top 10 players missing from the Doha list are World No. 1 Justine Henin and the 10th ranked Serena Williams.
Henin, who won the 2007 title in Doha, has decided to skip the tournament because she will be featuring in the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp the preceding week and was not inclined to play two events in a row.
Ivanovic, who is among several rising Serbs on the professional circuit -– including this year’s men’s Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic -– has already won a trophy carrying Qatar’s name.
That came last year when she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova to win the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin and the Serbian beauty can hope to add to her growing fan base with an excellent show in Doha. Ivanovic will be the top seed in Qatar.
The tournament will also see the participation of an Israeli player for the first time with the World No 17 Shahar Peer entering the fray.
The other big names confirmed for the tournament are Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova (Russia), Amelie Mauresmo (France) and Patty Schnyder (Switzerland).
This year’s tournament will see a total of 64 players taking part. While 56 will be given automatic entry based on their rankings, the remaining eight will have to come through a qualifying process.
The eight top 10 players listed for the Qatar total Open: Ana Ivanovic (Serbia, 2), Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia, 3), Jelena Jankovic (Serbia, 4), Maria Sharapova (Russia, 5), Venus Williams (USA, 6), Anna Chakvetadze (Russia, 7), Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia, 8), Marion Bartoli (France, 9).
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