PETALING JAYA: The ATP Malaysian Open at the Putra Stadium, Bukit
Jalil, from Sept 22-30 promises to be a blast with 19 of the world’s top
55 players on parade.
World No. 5 David Ferrer of Spain is the
top seed and the biggest name. He will be joined by countryman Feliciano
Lopez, the popular Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, towering American Sam
Querrey and 2009 winner Nikolay Davydenko of Russia.
The other
top names include Argentine world No. 11 Juan Monaco, Japanese sensation
Kei Nishikori and Ukranian world No. 16 Alexandr Dolgopolov, who
confirmed their participation last month.
The other players in
the main draw are Pablo Andujar, Albert Ramos (Spa), Julien Benneteau
(Fra), Carlos Berlocq (Arg), Alejandro Falla, Santiago Giraldo (Col),
Denis Istomin (Uzb), Martin Klizan, Lukas Lacko (Svk), Jurgen Melzer
(Aut) and Andreas Seppi (Ita).
“The cut-off for the Malaysian
Open is at 55 this year, meaning any player ranked below that will have
to go through the qualifiers or gain a wild card for the main draw,”
said tournament director Nick Freyer.
“This highlights how strong the competition is this year. It promises to be a sensational week.”
Among the new faces will be Frenchman Benneteau, who won the doubles bronze in the recently concluded London Olympics.
Benneteau also took Roger Federer to five sets at Wimbledon this year and will be a strong contender.
Besides the 19 direct entries, there will also be three wild cards and four qualifiers for the main draw.
Two wild cards will be provided for local players in the singles.- www.thestar.com.my
