February 21 , 2007

(Sunrise, FL) February 21, 2007- No. 21 ranked Dmitry Tursunov is returning to the BMW Tennis Championship March 11 - 18 to defend his title at Sunrise Tennis Center.   The ATP Challenger's top 32 players also include last year's finalist No. 57 Alberto Martin, French Open semi-finalist No. 23 Dominik Hrbaty, two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Sebastien Grosjean, 2006 BMW semifinalist Ivo Karlovic, who this week reached the final at San Jose, after beating James Blake and Mardy Fish; Gilles Simon, who won his first ATP title this year in Marsielle, defeating Lleyton Hewitt and Marcus Baghdatis; and popular US players Vince Spadea and Justin Gimelstob.   This year's player entry cutoff is a blazing 73.

One wild card has been awarded, to former No. 4 Nicolas Kiefer.   At this time last year the German was ranked 12, after reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open - losing to eventual champ Roger Federer.   Kiefer is launching his tour comeback at the BMW Tennis Championship after a wrist injury at the French Open.   Players losing in the first round of the Pacific Life Open March 5-18 are eligible for the three remaining spots.

Rounding out the BMW's top 32 entries are No. 35 Julien Benneteau, No. 40 Jonas Bjorkman, No. 71 Daniele Bracciali, No. 69 Juan Martin Del Portro, No. 72 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, No. 44 Marc Gicquel, No. 50 Luis Horna, No. 58 Phillipp Kohlschreiber, No. 73 Stefan Koubek, No. 65 Nicolas Mahut, No. 64 Paul-Henri Mathieu, No. 49 Florian Mayer, No. 66 Juan Monaco, and No. 67 Florent Serra.

Notable alternates include Rainer Schuettler, Igor Andreev, Michael Llodra, Gilles Muller, rising star Gael Monfils, who fought his way to the 4 th round of the French Open last year; and young Americans Sam Querry, Alex Kuznesov, Robert Kenrick and Alex Bogomolov Jr.

The buzz is building - as more and more top players warm-up for the Sony Ericsson Open by playing the BMW Tennis Championship. The courts are the same, the balls are the same, the weather's the same - and the competition just as tough as at Key Biscayne.

Tickets are ON SALE NOW!

Gabe Norona, Tournament Director
(954) 328-2283

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