Davenport bound for Bali tourney after U.S. Open quarterfinal exit
Davenport bound for Bali tourney after U.S. Open quarterfinal exit
Agencies, Jakarta
World number one Lindsay Davenport and defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova will spearhead the competition at the US$225,000 WTA Wismilak tennis tournament in Nusa Dua, Bali, next week.
Organisers said Davenport, who was defeated by sixth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva in the U.S. Open on Wednesday, had confirmed that she would take part in Southeast Asia's biggest international women's tennis event on Sept. 11-Sept. 18.
Davenport will be joined by other stars, including Kuznetsova of Russia, Switzerland's Patty Schnyder and one of the game's rising stars, Serbian Jelena Jankovic.
"We are delighted that a player of Lindsay Davenports stature wants to play in Bali," tournament director Kevin Livesey was quoted as saying on the event's website by Agence France-Presse.
"We are also thrilled to welcome back many old friends such as Svetlana Kuznetsova."
Kuznetsova won last year's Bali title, defeating unheralded Marlene Weingartner of Germany 6-1, 6-4, but has had a difficult 2005 due to injury. S
Other players who have confirmed their participation include 10-time Grand Slams winner and Spanish veteran star Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, who will pair with Kuznetsova in the doubles event, and India's rising star Sania Mirza.
Indonesian number one Angelique Widjaja, who is still recovering from a nagging knee injury after surgery last November, withdrew last month after being offered a wild card.
Mirza, 18, made history last week as the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam event, losing to Russia's Maria Sharapova, and the first to break into the world top 50.
However, she came under fire on Friday in her native Hyderabad.
A Muslim organization has issued an edict telling her to cover up during matches, and said her short skirts and sleeveless shirts were "un-Islamic," newspapers reported.
"The dress she wears on the tennis courts not only doesn't cover large parts of her body but leaves nothing to the imagination," newspaper quoted Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui of the Sunni Ulema Board as saying.
He said Islam did not permit women to wear skirts, shorts and sleeveless tops in public and that she should cover up.
Siddiqui said he was worried Mirza was becoming a role model for younger generations of Muslim girls.
"She will undoubtedly be a corrupting influence on these young women, which we want to prevent," the Hindustan Times quoted him as saying in Hyderabad.
Siddiqui said Mirza should follow the example of Iranian women who wore long tunics and headscarves to play in the Asian Badminton Championship in Hyderabad earlier this week.