Sunrise, Florida, March 12, 2007- The field is set for the BMW Tennis Championship 2007, with six top-50 players among the tournament's eight top seeds.   No. 1 seed is defending champion Dmitry Tursunov, with a current ATP ranking of 21.   Tursunov had the best year of his career in 2006.   The week after winning at Sunrise, he achieved his best Masters Series showing by reaching the fourth round in Miami, losing to eventual winner Roger Federer.   He later won his first ATP title in Mumbai, and chalked up a personal-best 45 match wins for the year.    The popular Russian is back to see if he can kick-start his summer season once again by playing the BMWTC.

Second seed is Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty, currently ranked 25.   Last year, Hrbaty finished in the 20s for a third consecutive year and increased his consecutive Grand Slam tournaments played to 40 (going into 2007), the best among active players.   He opened last year with a semifinal finish in Adelaide, and reached the 4th round of the Australian Open.   At Roland Garros, "The Dominator" posted consecutive five-set victories before falling to Lleyton Hewitt in the 3rd round.   At back-to-back US Open Series events, he lost to eventual champions Tommy Haas (semifinals) and Arnaud Clement (third round).   2004 was his best season, in which he won three ATP titles in four finals and finished a year-end best No. 14.  

Frenchman Marc Gicquel, seeded No. 3, is currently ranked 42. The veteran Frenchman compiled his best career season last year by reaching his first ATP final (defeating Hrbaty, Grosjean and Malisse), and winning 17 matches on the circuit.

No. 4 seed Florian Mayer, ranked 45, finished in the top 75 last year for the third straight season, highlighted by a career-high 26 match wins.   The German also advanced to his second ATP final and won two Davis Cup singles matches.   

No. 5 seed Gael Monfils is ranked 49.   In 2006 the young French star finished in the top 50 for the second straight year, despite a string of injuries.   He opened the season as runner-up in Doha (losing to Roger Federer) and in May, he reached the semis at the Masters Series Rome (defeating Andy Roddick, but losing to Rafael Nadal).   His best Grand Slam result was a 4th round finish at Roland Garros (defeating James Blake in the 3rd).   At Queen's he recorded his third win over a Top 10 player in four tournaments, defeating Ivan Ljubicic en route to the quarterfinals.   At the Cincinnati Masters Series event, Monfils defeated Marat Safin before losing to Marcos Baghdatis.

Nicolas Massu, seeded No. 6, and ranked No. 50 worldwide, entered the BMW as a wild card.   The Chilean finished in the top 100 for eighth consecutive season last year, highlighted by his sixth career title.   He also reached three other ATP clay finals, was a finalist at Vina del Mar, and won at Costa do Sauipe.   Many remember Massu for winning Olympic gold.   In 2004 - he became the first man to win double Olympic gold medals in tennis since Vincent Richards in 1924.   He defeated American Mardy Fish in five dramatic sets in singles; then teamed with fellow Chilean Fernando Gonzalez to capture gold in another five-set marathon.   During those Olympics, Massu played a total of 24 hours and 43 minutes on court in 12 matches over eight days.   He and Gonzalez were honored by Chilean president Ricardo Lagos and 6,000 fans in Santiago after their wins.   That year Massu also won a career-best 42 matches and helped Chile repeat at the World Team Cup by going 3-1 in singles.    

The BMW's seventh seed is Argentinean Juan Monaco, currently ranked 56; who earlier this year won in Buenos Aires.   No. 8 is Austrian Stefan Koubek, ranked 64, who this year reached the final at Chennai and quarters in Memphis.

Three other wild cards were awarded to 3-time French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten, American Jesse Levine, and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic.

See the full BMWTC singles draw by clicking here; for the doubles draw, click here.   For 2007 Qualifier results click here. .

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