Pacific Life Open announces the field of players + Wildcards for the March Tourney (1/31/08)
PACIFIC LIFE OPEN FIELDS HEADLINED BY
AUSTRALIAN OPEN CHAMPIONS, FINALISTS, AND SEMIFINALISTS
Americans Roddick, Blake and Davenport Also To Participate In Indian Wells
Indian Wells, Calif., January 31, 2008 – The 2008 Australian Open champions Novak Djokovic (No. 3) and Maria Sharapova (No. 5), finalists Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (No. 18) and Ana Ivanovic (No. 2), and semifinalists Roger Federer (No. 1), Rafael Nadal (No. 2), Daniela Hantuchova (No. 9), and Jelena Jankovic (No. 4) will headline the fields of the Pacific Life Open, to be held March 10-23, 2008 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. In addition to these stars, Americans Andy Roddick (No. 6), James Blake (No. 9), and new mother and six-time Pacific Life Open champion Lindsay Davenport, will also be part of the first major tennis event of the season on U.S. soil, it was announced today by tournament director Steve Simon.
This past weekend Djokovic captured his first major title by winning the Australian Open. The Serbian star began to make his name known last year with a finals appearance at the Pacific Life Open. In 2007 he added five titles to his resume, reached the semifinals of the French Open and Wimbledon, and the finals of the US Open. Sharapova, who captured her first Pacific Life Open title in 2006, started the 2008 season in magnificent fashion by winning the third major title of her career at the Australian Open. The former World No. 1, who will only turn 21 this April, has already captured 17 titles in her short career on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour (SEWTA Tour). In 2007 she captured a title at San Diego, reached the semifinals of the French Open and the finals of the Australian Open and Tour Championships.
Tsonga, an up-and-coming French star, had an incredible run at the Australian Open, where he defeated 2007 Pacific Life Open semifinalist Andy Murray (No. 12), 2007 Wimbledon semifinalist Richard Gasquet (No. 7), talented Russian Mikhail Youhzny (No. 8) and World No. 2 Rafael Nadal (all of these players will be in the Pacific Life Open field) before falling in the finals to Djokovic. Ivanovic, another young Serbian, burst onto the scene last year and had incredible results. She won three tournaments at Berlin, Los Angeles and Luxembourg and reached the finals of the French Open. By reaching the finals of the first Grand Slam of the year, she climbed to career-high ranking of No. 2 in the world.
Federer, a three-time Pacific Life Open champion (2004-2006), fell in the semifinals of the Australian Open, but he continued his march toward becoming the best tennis player in history. In 2007 he won eight titles, including three Grand Slams (Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open) and the year-end Tennis Masters Cup. It was the second consecutive year that he won three of the four Grand Slams, bringing his career total to 12, and the fourth consecutive year he finished with the No. 1 ranking in the world.
The defending Pacific Life Open champions, Nadal and Hantuchova, both enjoyed terrific seasons in 2007 and reached the semifinals of the Australian Open to start their 2008 campaigns. The World No. 2 ranked player for the past three seasons, Nadal captured his third consecutive French Open title last year and also set a record with an astounding 81-match clay-court winning streak (ended by Federer in Hamburg). Hantuchova added a second whale trophy to her collection this past March (first was in 2002) when she won the Pacific Life Open title, and the victory propelled her to another title at Linz and a top-ten ranking for the second time in her career. Jankovic, also an Australian Open semifinalist, won four titles in 2007at Auckland, Charleston, Rome and Birmingham en route to her highest career ranking of No. 3 in the world.
Roddick, who was a semifinalist at last year’s Pacific Life Open, had a terrific season in 2007 capturing titles at London and Washington, reaching the quarterfinals or better in three of the four Grand Slams, and along with Blake, lead the US team to its first Davis Cup title since 1995. Blake, who just a few years ago suffered injuries that threatened to derail his career, had another great season in 2007, claiming his ninth and tenth ATP titles. He started 2008 by reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the first time in his career.
The all-time leading money winner in SEWTA Tour history, Lindsay Davenport, took a break from the circuit for less than a year to give birth to her first child, Jagger Jonathan. She picked up where she left off by winning three of the first four tournaments she entered since the fall of 2007. Her first win was at Quebec City, then Bali, and finally the first tournament of 2008 at Auckland. The Southern California resident, who is a 54-time singles and 36-time doubles champion on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, has had incredible success at the Pacific Life Open since first competing in 1993. She won singles titles in 1997 and 2000 and doubles titles in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003.
Other ATP and SEWTA Tour stars that will again return to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden include two-time Pacific Life Open champion Lleyton Hewitt (No. 20), 2007 US Open and Pacific Life Open finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova (No. 3), two-time Grand Slam champion Amelie Mauresmo (No. 18), 2004 Australian Open champion Marat Safin and his sister Dinara Safina (No. 16), Argentine superstar David Nalbandian (No. 10), 2004 US Open and 2006 Pacific Life Open finalist Elena Dementieva (No. 11), 2007 Australian Open semifinalist Nicole Vaidisova (No. 12), 2007 US Open semifinalist David Ferrer (No. 5), Russians Nikolay Davydenko (No. 4) and Mikhail Youhzny (No. 8).
Rising stars who will be in the Pacific Life Open field and have already made their mark on the Tours include big-hitting Czech Tomas Berdych (No. 11), 2007 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis (No. 13), two-time winner in 2007 Tatiana Golovin (No. 13), 2007 US Open quarterfinalist Shahar Peer (No. 17), 2008 Australian Open doubles champion (with her sister Kateryna) Alona Bondarenko (No. 21), 2008 Australian Open quarterfinalist Agnieszka Radwanska (No. 28) and Indian superstar Sania Mirza (No. 32).
The women’s qualifying draw will take place March 10-11 while the men’s qualifying rounds will be held March 11-12 with 48 players in each draw vying for 12 spots in the main draws; first-round play will begin Wednesday, March 12 for the women and Thursday, March 13 for the men. This year, the men’s and women’s finals will be held on the same day, Sunday, March 23.
AMERICANS HEADLINE WILDCARD ENTRIES AT THE PACIFIC LIFE OPEN Fish, Ginepri, Young, Isner, King, Rolle, Mattek, Haynes, Brengle and Oudin Will Vie For The Title Indian Wells, Calif., Thursday, March 6, 2008 � An impressive group of American players, including veterans Mardy Fish and Robby Ginepri and rising stars Donald Young, John Isner, Vania King, Asha Rolle, Bethanie Mattek, Angela Haynes, Madison Brengle and Melanie Oudin have been granted wild cards for the 2008 Pacific Life Open, to be held March 10-23 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, it was announced today by tournament director Steve Simon. Three other players that have been granted wildcards into the event are former top ten player Mario Ancic and outstanding Juniors Urszula Radwanska from Poland and Anastasia Pivovarova from Russia. This year marks the seventh time that Fish will be playing the Pacific Life Open. He started the 2008 season with quarterfinal showings at San Jose and Delray Beach and scored a sensational upset of Tommy Robredo at the Australian Open. Last year he was a finalist at Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven and reached the quarterfinals or better four other times. Ginepri, a close friend of Fish, has started to turn his tennis fortunes around with two impressive semifinal efforts in the last month at San Jose and Delray Beach. Teenager Donald Young broke through the top 100 for the first time last year and is currently ranked No. 85 in the world. A former World No. 1 ranked Junior, Young was a quarterfinalist in Memphis recently and last year won the Challenger in Aptos, California and reached the final of another four Challenger events. Isner meanwhile started to make his mark on the tour last summer when he was the runner-up to Andy Roddick in Washington and took a set off Roger Federer at the US Open. He won the Challenger in Lexington and reached the quarters or better of five other Challengers. So far this year, the 6'9" star's best result is a quarterfinals appearance at San Jose. King, from Southern California, won her first career title in 2006 at Bangkok and last year was a quarterfinalist at Quebec City and Bangkok. Rolle was a quarterfinalist at the Futures event in Clearwater, Florida this year while Haynes made the final of the Futures tournament at Sunrise, Florida. Mattek ended the 2007 season in the top 100 for the second straight year and recently upset World No. 13 Tatiana Golovin in Memphis. Brengle and Oudin both have won a number of ITF Junior titles over the course of their young careers. Last year, Brengle won the Belgian International Juniors and was the runner-up at the Junior Wimbledon, while Oudin won the Eddie Herr Junior Title in Bradenton, Florida and was the runner-up at the Orange Bowl. Croatian Mario Ancic is one of the more charismatic young players in tennis. Previously ranked as high as No. 7 in the world, he struggled with illness and injury in 2007, missing six months of action. He now seems to be well and reached the finals at Marseille and the semifinals at Zagreb earlier this year. Seventeen year old Urszula Radwanska, currently the No. 1 ranked Junior in the world and sister of World No. 19 Agnieszka Radwanska, is still playing a limited schedule on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, but last year had the thrill of her young career when she won the Junior Wimbledon title. Pivavorva is also a future star and earlier this year won a Challenger event at Tampa Bay, Florida. In addition, she added three Challenger titles to her resume last year on the circuit.
For information about the tournament or tickets, visit www.PacificLifeOpen.com, call the Indian Wells Tennis Garden at 800-999-1585, or visit the box office, 78-200 Miles Avenue, Indian Wells, CA 92210.
About the Pacific Life Open
The first major tennis event of the season on U.S. soil, the Pacific Life Open features more than 250 of the world’s best men and women tennis players. Last year, more than 300,000 people attended the event, which is held at the second largest tennis stadium in the world and located just outside of Palm Springs.
About Pacific Life
Founded in 1868, Pacific Life provides life insurance products, individual annuities, and mutual funds, and offers a variety of investment products and services to individuals, businesses, and pension plans. Pacific Life counts more than half of the 50 largest U.S. companies as clients1 and is a member of Insurance Marketplace Standards Association (IMSA), whose membership promotes high ethical standards for the sale of individual life insurance and annuities. For additional information about Pacific Life, including its current financial strength ratings from A.M. Best, Fitch Ratings, Standard & Poor’s, and Moody’s, visit the company Web site at www.PacificLife.com. 1 Data compiled by Pacific Life using the FORTUNE 500 list as of April 2007.