March 16, 2009

Main Draw Wild Cards Announced
Thomas Johansson (SWE), the 2002 Australian Open Champion, headlines the four wild cards selections for this year's main draw. Johansson is joined this year by Tomas Berdych (CZE), Stefan Koubek (AUT) and Wayne Odesnik (USA).

WC Player Highlights:
Thomas Johansson has nine career ATP singles titles, including the 2002 Grand Slam win in Australia. His highest career ranking is No. 7 (June 10, 2002). This summer at the Beijing Olympics he won the Silver Medal in doubles. He is coming off a heel injury that required surgery on Oct. 27, 2008 in Amsterdam. He will be making his 2009 ATP debut at the BMW Tennis Championship.

Tomas Berdych is currently No. 22 and will be the No. 1 seed in the main draw. In 2007 he broke into the Top 10 rankings at of No. 9. At this year's Australian Open he advanced to the Rd. of 16 before dropping a five set match to Roger Federer.

Stefan Koubek is former top 20 player who is making a nice comeback in 2009 after undergoing surgery last year to repair a spinal disk. Koubek earned two singles wins in Austria's Davis Cup tie at Germany earlier this month. His first match victory was a major upset of Germany's top player Rainer Schuettler (who is also in the main draw as the No. 2 seed). Koubek has three ATP titles, including Delray Beach.

Wayne Odesnik, who lives in Weston, Florida, just a few minutes from the venue, is a Top 100 player. He qualified for this year's Australian Open and lost in the 1st Rd. to Mario Ancic.

Main Draw Seeds All in Top 50
This year's Main Draw may be the toughest yet at the BMW Tennis Championship as all of the eight seeds are in the Top 50. The tournament could possibly add another top 50 player to the draw if Robin Soderling, ranked No. 26 wins his qualifying match on Tuesday morning. Soderling, who has been as high as No. 15 earlier this year, would be the second highest ranked player in the event and could be facing off against one of the seeds in the first round. Wild card entry Tomas Berdych (No. 22) is the top seed.

Seeds:
1. Tomas Berdych (CZE) No. 22
2. Rainer Schuettler (GER) No. 30
3. Feliciano Lopez (ESP) No. 34
4. Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) No. 38
5. Simone Bolelli (ITA) No. 40
6. Jose Acasuso (ARG) No. 42
7. Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) No. 46
8. Florent Serra (FRA) No. 50

	Click here for Main Draws
	Click here for Order of Play

Qualifying - Day 1
The final four spots are up for grabs in the main draw and six of the top eight seeds are now one win away from earning a qualifying entry. Top seed Robin Solderling along with four other top 100 players - Bjorn Phau (RUS), No. 85, Evgeny Korolev (RUS), No. 87, Denis Gremelmayr (GER), No. 100 - plus former top 25 player Olivier Rochus (BEL) and Simon Greul (GER), No. 115 are the remaining seeds. Match play starts at 10:00am on Tuesday. Admission is free for the final round of qualifying.

TICKETS & TV
Tickets for the 2009 BMW Tennis Championship main draw are available for purchase online, by phone (Ph: 877.877.7677) and in-person at the Sunrise Tennis Club: 9605 West Oakland Park Blvd, Sunrise FL (Ph: 954.572-2286) and Pro Tennis World: 11306 State Road 84, Davie, FL (Ph: 954.474.1780). Prices start at $10 for opening rounds.

Live coverage of the tournament will be telecast on the B2 Networks starting with Tuesday's Main Draw Day Session (Noon, EST). Carl Foster will be live on location to provide play-by- play commentary and live interviews from courtside. Fans wanting to tune in will need a high speed Internet connection and current version of Windows Media Player. A hotlink to the online order form is located on the BMW Tennis Championship homepage.

Qualifying Singles - Second Round
Qualifying - R Soderling (SWE) d A Chernov (RUS) 63 62
Qualifying - B Phau (GER) d P Hanley (AUS) 46 61 63
Qualifying - E Korolev (RUS) d N Todero (ARG) 61 63
Qualifying - D Gremelmayr (GER) d C Klingemann (USA) 64 61
Qualifying - S Greul (GER) d R de Voest (RSA) 64 61
Qualifying - J de Armas (VEN) d R Karanusic (CRO) 61 63
Qualifying - O Rochus (BEL) d S Lipsky (USA) 62 63
Qualifying - A Kumantsov (RUS) d J Levine (USA) 26 64 63

First Round
Qualifying - R Soderling (SWE) d [WC] J Efferding (USA) 61 62
Qualifying - B Phau (GER) d J Witten (USA) 62 63
Qualifying - E Korolev (RUS) d L Gregorc (SLO) 61 61
Qualifying - D Gremelmayr (GER) d P Ast (VEN) 60 60
Qualifying - S Greul (GER) d S Bohli (SUI) 62 62
Qualifying - R Karanusic (CRO) d V Obradovic (SRB) 62 61
Qualifying - O Rochus (BEL) d S Giraldo (COL) 26 64 76(4)
Qualifying - A Kumantsov (RUS) d B Becker (GER) 63 63
Qualifying - A Chernov (RUS) d S Huss (AUS) 36 75 61
Qualifying - J Levine (USA) d [WC] R Parlade (USA) 60 62
Qualifying - P Hanley (AUS) d [WC] A Bodwin (USA) 60 60
Qualifying - S Lipsky (USA) d [WC] I Kuznetsov (RUS) 60 60
Qualifying - N Todero (ARG) d [WC] M Yu (USA) 63 64
Qualifying - J de Armas (VEN) d [WC] A Lake (USA) 63 63
Qualifying - C Klingemann (USA) d R Flach (USA) 64 63
Qualifying - R de Voest (RSA) d D Martin (USA) 63 64

ORDER OF PLAY - TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2009

STADIUM start 10:00 am.

Qualifying - E Korolev (RUS) vs J de Armas (VEN)

Not Before 12:00 PM
Qualifying - R Soderling (SWE) vs A Kumantsov (RUS)
Y Lu (TPE) vs [WC] S Koubek (AUT)
A Clement (FRA) vs D Junqueira (ARG)

Not Before 7:00 PM
[WC] W Odesnik (USA) vs [7] J Tipsarevic (SRB)
A Fisher (AUS) / S Lipsky (USA) vs R de Voest (RSA) / D Martin (USA)

COURT 9 start 10:00 am
Qualifying - B Phau (GER) vs O Rochus (BEL)

Not Before 12:00 PM
[5] S Bolelli (ITA) vs C Rochus (BEL)
[8] F Serra (FRA) vs M Zverev (GER)
[3] P Hanley (AUS) / S Huss (AUS) vs [WC] S Darcis (BEL) / E Korolev (RUS)

COURT 12 start 10:00 am
Qualifying - D Gremelmayr (GER) vs S Greul (GER)

Not Before 12:00 PM
S Stakhovsky (UKR) vs M Gicquel (FRA)