Fifth Third Tennis Championships

Posted: July 6th, 2009

LEXINGTON, KY, July 4, 2009 – Nine of the world’s top 150 players headline the entry lists for the 15th annual Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships, to be held July 20-26 in Lexington, Kentucky, the United States Tennis Association announced this week.

“It’s unprecedented to have this strong of a field in our men’s and women’s tournaments,” said Brooks Downing, whose group, Blue Entertainment Sports Television, owns and manages the event for the USTA. “It begs the question: who will be the next champion that will launch to greatness from here in the Bluegrass?”

The $100,000 event has served as a “launching pad” for tennis excellence. In 2008, 16-year-old Melanie Oudin from Atlanta burst onto the scene with her first professional title. Oudin recently made it to the fourth round at Wimbledon, earning the reputation as the “next great American woman in tennis” along the way.

Two years ago, John Isner won the NCAA men’s title in June, captured his first pro championship by winning the Fifth Third a month later, then bounced back the following week to finish as runner-up of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C., losing to top American Andy Roddick in the ATP final. Isner, a 6-9 Greensboro, N.C. native, made the main draw of the ’07 U.S. Open where he took a set off of Roger Federer, ranked No. 1 in the world at the time, before being eliminated.

The 2009 men’s entry list boasts American Brendan Evans, now ranked 138th in the world, who will make his third consecutive appearance in Lexington. In 2007, Evans lost in the semifinals to Isner, the eventual champion. Last month, Evans won the Nottingham Challenger in Great Britain.

Evans will be joined on the men’s side by Donald Young, ranked 159th in the world. Young, the former world’s No. 1 junior player, made his professional debut in Lexington in 2004.

The women’s entry list features seven players ranked among the Top 150 in the world including two in the Top 100. France’s Julie Coin enters as the tournament’s highest ranked player with a world ranking of No. 65. She advanced to the Round of 32 in last year’s U.S. Open and fell in three sets last week in the opening round of Wimbledon. Sania Mirza of India and American Abigail Spears both come to Lexington with Top 100 talent on their career resumes. Mirza has been ranked as high as 27th in the world and Spears has a career-high ranking of 66th.

The event will be played at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Stadium on the campus of the University of Kentucky. Daily tickets, priced at $8, can be purchased in advance at any participating Fifth Third Bank location or by calling BEST at 859.264.8020. In addition, a limited number of box seats are available for purchase.

Men's Entry List

Carsten Ball (AUS)

Alex Bogdanovic (GBR)

Lester Cook (USA)

Ryler DeHeart (USA)

Pierre-Ludovic Duclos (CAN)

Brendan Evans (USA)

Daniel Evans (GBR)

Chris Guccione (AUS)

Kyu Tae Im (KOR)

Scoville Jenkins (USA)

Tobias Kamke (GER)

Harel Levy (ISR)

Nick Lindahl (AUS)

Marinko Matosevic (AUS)

Simon Stadler (GER)

Yuichi Sugita (JPN)

Ryan Sweeting (USA)

Izak Van der Merwe (RSA)

Fritz Wolmaran (RSA)

Michael Yani (USA)

Donald Young (USA)

Women's Entry List

Monique Adamczak (AUS)

Lauren Albanese (USA)

Greta Arn (HUN)

Madison Brengle (USA)

Julie Coin (FRA)

Jorgelina Cravero (ARG)

Yulia Fedossova (FRA)

Rika Fujiwara (JPN)

Eva Hrdinova (CZE)

Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)

Carmen Klaschka (GER)

Sania Mirza (IND)

Katie O'Brien (GBR)

Frederica Piedade (POR)

Anastasia Pivovarova (RUS)

Tatiana Poutchek (BLR)

Anne Schaefer (GER)

Chanelle Scheepers (RSA)

Melanie South (GBR)

Abigail Spears (USA)

Valerie Tetreault (CAN)

Renata Voracova (CZE)

Lenka Wienerova (SVK)

Meng Yuan (CHN)

Fifth Third Tennis Championships

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