Ivanovic and Safina to play in Korea Open
Former top-ranked tennis players Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Dinara Safina of Russia will be among the players who will see action in the Hansol Korea Open, which starts at the Olympic Park in Seoul on Saturday, September 18. Organizers also announced that
defending champion Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan and former titleholder, Maria Kirilenko of Russia, will also compete in the only Women’s Tennis Association Tour event hosted by South Korea.
Ivanovic rose to fame in 2008 when she won the French Open tournament. She defeated Safina in the final to improve her runner-up finish to Belgium’s Justine Henin the previous year. Ivanovic also finished runner-up to Russian Maria Sharapova in the 2008
Australian Open. She has yet to win a tournament this season and is currently ranked 37th in the world.
Safina has never won a Grand Slam title, despite having reached the final of the French Open twice, and the Australian Open once. She won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, losing to compatriot Elena Dementieva in the final. Unfortunately, Safina
has been plagued with injuries in recent months and is now ranked 59th in the WTA rankings.
Date-Krumm will try to become the first player to win the tournament two years in a row. The 39-year-old, who came out of retirement two years ago, defeated Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues in last year’s final to become the second oldest player to win a
WTA event after Billie Jean King. It was also Date-Krumm’s first WTA title since her return from a 12-year hiatus. Kirilenko won the Korea Open in 2008, defeating Australian Samantha Stosur in the final. She was ousted by Date-Krumm in the semi-finals of last
year’s tournament.
Russian Nadia Petrova and Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez are also considered top seeds in this year’s tournament. 19-year-old Russian rising star, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, will also see action in the $220,000 event. Leading the local challengers are
Lee Jin-a and Kim So-jung.
The doubles event will also be held in the seventh edition of the meet. US Open champions Vania King of the United States and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan are the favourites to win the title.
The nine-day event is organized by the WTA and the Korea Tennis Association.
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