BEIJING, Sept. 10 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- China Open Promotions Limited announced today that following two days of qualifying matches, the 2007 China Open has officially started the main draws for both the ATP and ITF rounds.
On the morning of September 8, the 4th China Open was launched at the Beijing Tennis Centre. A 20-strong cheerleader team entertained before Gao Shenyang, an official from the Tennis Management Centre of the Sports Bureau, announced that the continued development of the China Open was a warm welcome to Chinese tennis, and was a catalyst for its development. In addition, Gao Shenyang announced that the China Open would be upgraded to a Royal Competition on the WTA circuit in 2009, which will ensure an even brighter future. In concluding the opening ceremony, Sun Kanglin, director general of the Sports Bureau, announced the official start of the 2007 China Open.
After 3 years of growth and development, appreciation for the China Open as a key tournament in both the men's and women's tours is constantly increasing.
The ceremony for men's main draw also took place on September 8. In the first half of the draw are 1st seed Davydenko (Ranked 4th worldwide), 3rd seed Spanish player Robredo, and 7th seed French player Tsonga. The two Chinese players with WC are also drawn in the first half -- Sun Peng will be playing against the 8th seed, Russian player Kunitsyn, whereas Yu Xinyuan will have the American player Kevin Kim as his opponent. If both of them could go through the 1st round, they would meet in the 2nd round.
In the second half of the draw, defending champion Baghdatis was given an easy draw. If everything goes well after his first round against a qualifying player, he will most likely play against the 4th seed Ivan Ljubicic in the quarterfinal. "The Chile Cannon” Gonzalez is the 2nd seed at the 2007 China Open, and he will meet the 6th seed, Korean player Hyung-Taik Lee, who is currently 43rd in the world.
"As the development of our game continues, more and more famous players will be gathering in Beijing, and the promotion of the WTA competition in 2009 has even proven that the China Open will continue to grow,” said vice president of the Sports Bureau, Mr. Li Jinkang, while introducing that the China Open would arrange ATP and ITF games in the first week as usual, and WTA games in the second week. The total prize money of the 2007 China Open will be USD1.1 million, in which men's matches share USD500,000 and USD600,000 goes to the women. The 2007 China Open has attracted more than 300 players from home and abroad.
