Brisbane International Tennis - Australian Open Series

Star-studded line-up on its way to Brisbane

Star-studded line-up on its way to Brisbane

brisbaneinternational.com.au Monday 6 December 2010 9 Comments »

The stage is set for some fierce competition at Brisbane International 2011.

With the full playing list announced today, three of the top 10 ranked men and seven of the top 25 women in the world are set to headline an exciting field in January.

In the men’s draw, reigning Brisbane International men’s singles champion, five-time Grand Slam finalist and world No.8, Andy Roddick will be a major attraction.

He will be joined by world No.5, Robin Soderling who was a quarterfinalist at the Brisbane International 2009 and returning 2009 finalist and current No.9 Fernando Verdasco.

Returning to the Brisbane International in 2011 will be Marcos Baghdatis, Mardy Fish, Radek Stepanek, Nadia Petrova, Marion Bartoli, Jarmila Groth, Anastasia Rodionova and Jelena Dokic as a wildcard entry.

This will be Stepanek’s third appearance at the Brisbane International having won the event in 2009 and was a finalist in 2010.

Australia will be well represented in the women’s draw, with Australia’s No.1 tennis player, Sam Stosur, headlining.

The Australian line-up includes world No.6, Samantha Stosur, No.42 Jarmila Groth who reached the fourth round at Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year, and world No.64, Anastasia Rodionova who is ranked inside the top 100 players in the world for the fifth season in a row and is a dual gold medallist from the Commonwealth games in India.

Former world No.4 and Australian favourite Jelena Dokic will be joined by fellow crowd favourites Gilles Simon, Feliciano Lopez and Daniela Hantuchova.

Brisbane International Tournament Director Steve Ayles said that the strength of this year’s playing field is spectacular.

“It seems to be getting bigger each year. It’s great to see some of the big names from the last couple of years return and to see some champions sign on for the first time. Ayles said

“The strength in the playing field really says a lot about the calibre of the event, the city and the way that the tournament is run.

“It’s going to be exciting to see how each player performs and who can start the year off with a title win in Brisbane and set themselves up for a great run heading into the Australian Open.”

Official Brisbane International line-up (men)

Soderling, Robin SWE No.5
Roddick, Andy USA No.8
Verdasco, Fernando ESP No.9
Fish, Mardy USA No.16
Baghdatis, Marcos CYP No.20
Lopez, Feliciano ESP No.32
Mayer, Florian GER No.37
Istomin, Denis UZB No.40
Granollers, Marcel ESP No.41
Simon, Gilles FRA No.42
de Bakker, Thiemo NED No.43
Benneteau, Julien FRA No.44
Dolgopolov, Alexandr UKR No.48
Becker, Benjamin GER No.53
Berrer, Michael GER No.55
Petzschner, Philipp GER No.57
Anderson, Kevin RSA No.61
Stepanek, Radek CZE No.62
Giraldo, Santiago COL No.64
Kamke, Tobias GER No.67
Serra, Florent FRA No.69
Kubot, Lukasz POL No.70
Sela, Dudi ISR No.75
Clement, Arnaud FRA No.78
Andreev, Igor RUS No.79

Official Brisbane International line-up (women)

Stosur, Samantha AUS No.6
Peer, Shahar ISR No.13
Petrova, Nadia RUS No.15
Bartoli, Marion FRA No.16
Pavlyuchenkova, Anastasia RUS No.21
Pennetta, Flavia ITA No.24
Kleybanova, Alisa RUS No.25
Dulgheru, Alexandra ROU No.29
Hantuchova, Daniela SVK No.30
Cibulkova, Dominika SVK No.31
Petkovic, Andrea GER No.32
Safarova, Lucie CZE No.33
Kvitova, Petra CZE No.34
Vinci, Roberta ITA No.38
Groth, Jarmila AUS No.42
Errani, Sara ITA No.43
Schnyder, Patty SUI No.44
Hercog, Polona SLO No.47
Chakvetadze, Anna RUS No.56
Benesova, Iveta CZE No.59
Kudryavtseva, Alla RUS No.60
Rodionova, Anastasia AUS No.64
Parra Santonja, Arantxa ESP No.65
Zahlavova Strycova, Barbora CZE No.67
Dokic, Jelena AUS  Wildcard

Brisbane International 2011 series packages and single sessions are on sale now.

Ground passes for the event are $12.90 with the qualifying event on Friday 31 December and Saturday 1 January 2011 remaining free.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.ticketek.com.au/brisbaneinternational  or call 1300 888 104.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

  • Nathan

    This line up is fantastic in both sides and cant wait, the caliber of players is so spectacular

  • depor23

    Nice lineup. The surface and the enclosed nature of the centre court should suit Soderling’s game. I expect him to perform well.

  • Mary

    Looking forward to it & hoping Fernando takes the title. :)

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerkstore/sets/72157612084686199/with/3166578636/ Smack

    I love how close up you can get to the players. and the shady grassed area next to the show courts is a great way to spend an afternoon. I too think Verdasco has a good chance to go one better after 2009.

  • LachDoGgY

    Yay Simon is playing but where is Gasquet???

  • 123

    he is at sydney this year!

  • Jr6jr

    Medibank International Sydney have signed 14 of the world’s top 20 female players for their January 9th Tournament where Brisbane has a mere 4 world top 20 female players. Amongst Sydney’s top 20 is current world #1 Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark and 5 former worlds #1’s including tour glamour stars and fan favourites Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic. The highest ranked female player signed for the January 2nd Brisbane International 2011 event being the in form world #6 Sam Stosur from the Gold Coast. The next highest ranked player is little known world #13 Shahar Peer from Israel.

    In stark contrast to the Brisbane International, Sydney’s Medibank International has an excellent line up for their 2011 tournament. Apart from local favorite Sam Stosur, Brisbane has fallen well short of a star studded line up not to mention failing to impress local fans with a poor if not dismal player line up.

    Perhaps Brisbane needs naming rights like Sydney so they can afford to lure the big name players.
    The Brisbane International line up of female players is embarrassing to say the very least.
    It’s almost looks like a setup to ensure Stosur is assured of adding a local Tour Title to her name. Compared to the much lower ranked opponents she is likey to face, Tournament Director Steve Ayles may as well just hand Sam Stosur the trophy now and announce her the 2011 Brisbane International Champion.
    Due to the lack lustre field of top 20 competition, Sam Stosur is almost a certainty for the #1 tournament seeding and tournament champion favourite.

  • http://www.tennis.com.au Tennis Australia

    Hi Jr6jr, thanks for your feedback. The main reason for the difference in line-ups is due to the Brisbane and Sydney tournaments falling under different WTA classifications. Sydney is a Premier tournament, while Brisbane is an International tournament. Following is a definition of the difference between these events from onthebaseline.com: Premier vs InternationalPremier tournaments are the marquee events of the WTA tour – designed for top-level players, and offer the largest paychecks. Formerly Tier 1/II events, there are 20 Premier tournaments in all.International tournaments are designed for the other 950 players on the WTA tour, with minimum prize money of $220,000 (US currency). Formerly Tier III/IV events, there are 29 International tournaments in all.To read more about this, check out: http://www.onthebaseline.com/2…/

  • pennyrose

    Thank you for having Feliciano Lopez this year …..finally!! I have tickets to 6 events …..I really want to see him play, and the BI is so up close and personal..its great!!

Site Information

© 2012 Tennis Australia