Gearing-up for world tennis treats from Beijing, Nonthaburi & Seoul

China Open 2008 will hold its annual ATP and WTA tournaments at the same time this coming week. With total prize money of US $ 524,000, ATP China Open promises great matches from day to day until September 28, 2008. Top seed David Ferrer of Spain gets first round bye and waits for the winner of first round match between Nicolas Delvider of France and Israelian Dudi Sela. Second seeded Andy Roddick also receives first round bye. Roddick just lost to Ferrer in Davis Cup's semi-final this week-end and he will face either qualifier or Croat Roko Karanusic.

Third seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez gets first round bye and waits for wild card Yan Bai from China or Japanese Go Soeda in the second round. Fourth seeded Richard Gasquet of France also receives first round bye and will meet qualifier or Lu Yen-Hsun of Chinese Taipei in the second round. Wild card and fifth seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain will face American Bobby Reynolds in the opening round, while sixth seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo will play against his compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round. Resurging German Rainer Schuettler is placed as seventh seeded and is to face Ivan Navarro-Pastor of Spain in the first round. last but not least, eight seeded Sam Querrey from USA will play his first round match against his fellow countryman, Jesse Levine.

Meanwhile in the WTA event with total prize money of US $ 600,000 a world class showdown is ready to go. Same as last week in Tokyo, two Serbs Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic topped the draw here at Beijing Tennis Center. Top seeded Jankovic will have first round bye and will meet qualifier or Virginie Razzano from France in the second round. Struggling second seeded Ana Ivanovic also gets bye in the first round and waits for either qualifier or Alize Cornet from France. The undoubtedly strongest player in the last three months, Dinara Safina is the third seeded of the tourney and is waiting to meet the first round's winner between wild card Li Na of China or Italian Francesca Schiavone. Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova is fourth seeded and is also directly into the second round to play either qualifier or wild card Peng Shuai from China. Fifth seeded Vera Zvonareva from Russia will play her opening round against Spaniard Annabel Medina Garrigues, while sixth seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska will be challenged by 2008 Wimbledon semi-finalist, Zheng Jie of China in the first round battle. Another struggling player after injury is seventh seeded Daniela Hantuchova and she is scheduled to meet Argentinian Gisela Dulko in the first round and finally eight seeded Anna Chakvetadze from Russia will face Danish Caroline Wozniacki in the opening round.

ATP Thailand Open 2008 is entering its sixth year with total prize money of US $ 576,000. The venue is at Impact Arena of Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi outside of metropolitan Bangkok. World number three Novak Djokovic from Serbia is the top seed at the most prestigious ATP event in South East Asia. Djokovic receives first round bye and waits for either French Julian Benneteau or qualifier. Second seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France also gets first round bye. In the second round Tsonga will play either qualifier or Benjamin Becker from Germany. Third and fourth seededs are Czech Tomas Berdych and French Gael Monfils, they both also get first round bye. In the second round Berdych will meet either Italian Simone Bolelli or Thomas Bellucci of Brazil, while Monfils waits for opening match's winner between American Robert Kendrick or qualifier.

The remaining seededs are to play their first round. Fifth seeded lefty Jarkko Nieminen fo Finland will challenged by wild card and younger brother of top seed, Marko Djokovic. Sixth seeded Robin Soderling is to face qualifier; seventh seeded Marat Safin will play against German Philipp Petzschner and eight seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer will meet young American, Donald Young.

WTA Tier IV "Hansol Korea Open" is topped with world ranked 27 Maria Kirilenko of Russia and world number 35 Israelian Shahar Peer in the draw. Kirilenko will begins her campaign in the first round against lesser known Slovak and ranked 219, Lenka Wienerova. Wienerova's best outcome this year when she won the title at Palic 50K in Serbia this past summer. Peer, as the second seed will face Czech Petra Cetkovska in the opening round. Other matches in the first round are featuring Roland Garros quarter-finalist this year, Estonian Kaia Kanepi is placed as third seeded and is to play against former top 50s, Jamea Jackson from USA who is currently at WTA 271; fourth seeded young Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro will face former top 30s Klara Zakopalova of Czech Republic; fifth seeded and world ranked 50 Pauline Parmentier of France will play against unknown wild card from Korea, Han Sung-Hee; sixth seeded Pole Marta Domachowska will meet Uzbekistan's number one, Akgul Amanmuradova. The remaining seededs are seventh seeded New Zealander Marina Erakovic and eight seeded Taiwanese Chan Yung-Jan. In the first round Erakovic will face experienced Samantha Stosur of Australia, while Chan will meet Mara Santangelo from Italy. Santangelo has been struggling with foot injury and her ranking is now WTA 183.