wildcards into the singles main draws.  The wildcards, which were given to five men and eight women, were awarded to a mix of well-known players, as well as some rising young players.  The women’s main draw begins on March 23rd and the men’s starts on March 24th.

Men:

o    Mario Ancic – Former number 7 ranked player and member of Davis Cup Champion team for Croatia.  He has won 3 titles during his career.
o    Ryan Harrison - rising seventeen year old American who is currently the youngest player in the top 300
o    Kei Nishikori – Won his first Tour title in 2008 and named ATP Newcomer of the Year
o    Carlos Moya - Spanish former French Open champion, Australian Open finalist and World Number One on the comeback from an injury
o    David Nalbandian – former Wimbledon finalist and World Number three from Argentina on the comeback from hip surgery


Women:

o    Jelena Dokic – former 4th ranked player and winner of 5 Tour titles during her career
o    Justine Henin - former World Number One and seven time Grand Slam champion
o    Michelle Larcher de Brito – seventeen year old from Portugal who reached a career high ranking of 76 in 2009
o    Petra Martic – nineteen year old Croatian who has won 2 ITF singles titles
o    Anastasia Pivovarova - nineteen year old Russian who has won 5 ITF titles
o    Arantxa Rus – 2008 Australian Open Junior Girls Champion and winner of 5 ITF singles titles from the Netherlands
o    Ajla Tomljanovic - rising junior player from Croatia
o    Heather Watson – 2009 U.S. Open Junior Girls Champion from England

Posted by TC at 11:42 AM || Comments (0)