Saturday 18 August 2012

Ferrer heads starry cast for Malaysian Open

 SOME of the world's best players are set to grace the fourth ATP Malaysian Open on Sept 22-30 at Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil. 

Spain's World No 5 David Ferrer heads the star list, also comprising Argentina's World No 11 Juan Monaco, Japan's World No 18 Kei Nishikori and last year's finalist Marco Baghdatis of Cyprus.The entry deadline closed yesterday.

"I am very excited to reveal that the ranking cut-off for the event is World No 55, meaning that any player ranked beyond that would have to get through the qualifying round or gain a wild card into the main draw," said tournament director Nick Freyer yesterday.

World No 16 Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, former champions Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Olympic medallist Julien Benneteau of France, Sam Querrey of Australia, Alejandro Falla of Colombia and Yuki Bhambri of India are among the other confirmed players.

The draw of 32 singles event will consist of 19 players from the direct entry main draw list, three wild cards and four qualifiers. The doubles will comprise only 16 pairs.
Tickets, priced between RM10 and RM100, are available via the tournament's website -- http://www.MalaysianOpenTennis.com or www.ticketcharge.com.my.

Confirmed players — David Ferrer (Spa; World No 5), Juan  Monaco (Arg; 11), Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukr; 16), Kei
Nishikori (Jpn; 18), Andreas Seppi (Ita; 27), Sam Querrey  (US; 29), Julien Benneteau (Fra; 30), Feliciano Lopez (Spa;  31), Denis Istomin (Uzb; 33), Jurgen Melzer (Aut; 36), Pablo  Andujar (Spa; 40), Marco Baghdatis (Cyp; 42), Carlos Berlocq  (Arg; 45), Santiago Giraldo (Col; 46) Albert Ramos (Martin  Klizan (Svk; 48), Nikolay Davydenko (Rus; 50), Alejandro  Falla (Col; 54), Lukas Lacko (Svk; 55),

Alternate list (selected players) — Ryan Harrison (US; 58),  Alex Bogomolov (Rus; 62), Lu, Yen Hsun (Tai; 74), Sergei  Bubka (Ukr; 154), Donald Young (US; 80), Somdev Devvarman (Ind; 85)