Top Seeds Set to Begin Quest for Rogers Cup

August 14, 2007 - Wednesday promises to be the most exciting day of tennis so far at this year’s Rogers Cup presented by American Express as seven of the top eight seeds will be in action at Rexall Centre.

Headlining the night session is world No. 1 and top seed Justine Henin of Belgium, who will face Slovenian qualifier Andreja Klepac.  The match represents the first career meeting between these two players, and the No. 141-ranked Klepac will need to be at her best to defeat the world’s top ranked player.

Immediately following that match, No. 2 seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia will face Marie-Eve Pelletier in the second round.  Jankovic has won four titles so far this year and will be looking to take the first step towards another with a win over the 193rd ranked Canadian.

Defending champion Ana Ivanovic will begin her pursuit of  a second straight Rogers Cup title on centre court during the day session, marking the first time the Serbian has had to defend a Tier I championship.  The No. 4 seed comes into the event riding the momentum of a victory last week in Los Angeles for her second title of the season.  Her opponent is China’s Zi Yan, who came through qualifying on the weekend before disposing of Frenchwoman Severine Bremond in her first round match.

Seeds five through eight are also set to play their first matches of the Rogers Cup.  No. 5 Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) faces Virginie Razzano (France), while No. 6 Nadia Petrova (Russia) will take on Canada’s Stephanie Dubois, who became the first Canadian in nine years to advance to the second round two years in a row.  Meanwhile, No. 7 Marion Bartoli (France) will play Maria Kirilenko (Russia) and No. 8 Elena Dementieva (Russia) faces Francesca Schiavone (Italy).

A third Canadian, Aleksandra Wozniak, will play her second round match against Austria’s Sybille Bammer, the 20th-ranked player in the world.

In the doubles event, the top four seeded teams will all begin the tournament on Wednesday.  Cara Black (Zimbabwe) and Liezel Huber (United States), the world’s top doubles team, begin their tournament against Italy’s Tathiana Garbin and Israeli Shahar Peer.  The No. 1 seeds are currently enjoying a successful year that includes two Grand Slam championships, and will be looking to add their first Rogers Cup crown to a growing list of titles won

No. 2 seeds Ai Sugiyama (Japan) and Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia), No. 3 Alicia Molik (Australian) and Mara Santangelo (Italy), and No. 4 Nathalie Dechy (France) and Tiantian Sun (China) are also in action.

MORE NEWS +