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Press Services
Americans Robby Ginepri, Ryan Harrison, Christina
McHale, Alexa Glatch And Bethanie Mattek-Sands Will Also Compete For The
Title
Indian Wells, Calif., March 3, 2010 – 2010 Australian
Open finalist and seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin, former World
No. 1 and Grand Slam champion Carlos Moya, and former World No. 3 David
Nalbandian, headline the wildcard recipients for the BNP Paribas Open, to
be held March 8-21 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, it was announced today
by Steve Simon, tournament director.
Henin, who won the BNP Paribas Open in 2004, recently
returned to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour after retiring from the sport in May
of 2008. She came back with a flourish this year, and as an unranked wildcard
reached the finals of her first event in Brisbane and the finals at the
Australian Open. The former World No. 1 will be making her first trip to
Indian Wells since 2006.
Moya, who won the French Open in 1998, became the first
Spaniard in history to hold the World No. 1 ranking in 1999 after reaching
the finals of the BNP Paribas Open that year. He is coming back from injuries
sustained in 2009, but will be looking to add to his twenty career titles
this season. Nalbandian, who had hip surgery last spring, is looking to return
to the form that saw him reach a Grand Slam final, capture the ATP World
Tour Finals, and finish ranked in the top ten for five consecutive years.
Earlier this year he reached the quarterfinals at Buenos Aires. This will
be his eighth trip to Indian Wells.
Two Americans, Robby Ginepri and Ryan Harrison, join
Moya and Nalbandian as wildcards in the men’s field. Ginepri, a former
top 20 ranked player who reached the US Open semifinals in 2005, has three
career titles on his resume. Harrison, a rising 17-year old star, played
in his first Grand Slam event at the Australian Open earlier this year, falling
in the first round in five sets. Two years ago he became the tenth player
in the history of the ATP World Tour to win a main draw match before his
sixteenth birthday and currently he is the youngest player in the top 300.
There remains one more men’s wildcard to be awarded.
On the women’s side, three American women, Christina
McHale, Alexa Glatch and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, have been granted wildcards.
McHale, a talented 17-year old, reached the second round of the US Open last
year and was a member of the US Fed Cup team that won its first round match
against France a month ago. Glatch, a California native, has five ITF titles
on her resume, and reached the third round at the BNP Paribas Open last year.
Mattek-Sands, who has won seven doubles titles in her career, including three
last year, was also a member of the US Fed Cup team last month, winning both
a singles and doubles match en route to victory.
In addition to the Americans, four international stars
also accepted wildcards including former top 20 Australian star Alicia Molik,
five-time winner on Tour Eleni Daniilidou, Austrian Tamira Paszek, and rising
junior star Alja Tomljanovic.
Wildcards for the men’s qualifying draw were awarded
to Vince Spadea, Filip Krajinovic, Roman Borvanov and Jose De Armas. Wild
cards for the women’s qualifying draw were awarded to Coco Vandeweghe,
Alison Riske, Anastasia Pivovarova, Sloane Stephens and Julia Boserup. Two
other qualifying draw wildcards (one man, one woman) will be given to the
winners of the pre-qualifying round of the BNP Paribas Open Challenge tournament,
to be held this weekend, March 6-7, at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
For more information about the BNP Paribas Open,
or to purchase tickets and travel packages, visit www.bnpparibasopen.org,
call 800-999-1585 or 760-200-8000, or visit the box office, 78-200 Miles
Avenue, Indian Wells, CA, 92210.
About the BNP Paribas Open
The BNP Paribas Open is held at the Indian Wells Tennis
Garden and is the largest combined ATP World Tour and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour
event in the world. The event will be celebrating its 35th anniversary March
8 – 21, 2010, with defending champions Rafael Nadal and Vera Zvonareva
and more than 300 of the best men’s and women’s tennis players
in the world.
About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) is a European leader
in global banking and financial services and is one of the 3 strongest banks
in the world according to Standard & Poor’s. The group is present
in 85 countries, with more than 171,000 employees, including 131.000 in Europe.
The group holds key positions in three major segments: Corporate and Investment
Banking, Asset Management & Services and Retail Banking. Present throughout
Europe in all of its business lines, the bank’s two domestic markets
in retail banking are France and Italy. BNP Paribas also has a significant
presence in the United States and strong positions in Asia and the emerging
markets.
About BNP Paribas and tennis
In 2008, BNP Paribas celebrated the 35th anniversary
of its association with the tennis world. Since 1973, BNP Paribas has been
actively involved in this sport, regularly increasing its support –
both locally and internationally, for families, schools and the
community.
Historically, BNP Paribas has had a special relationship
with every facet of the tennis world: official global sponsor of Roland Garros
for 35 years, sponsor of the Davis Cup since 2001, of the Fed Cup since 2005
and since the acquisition of BNL in 2006, the "Internazionali BNL d'Italia",
as well as actively supporting numerous other international competitions
(WTA Bank of the West Classic in California, the Monte Carlo Masters Series,
BNP Paribas Strasbourg Women's Open, Grand Prix de Lyon, etc.). BNP Paribas
also supports tennis locally in France, and is involved in more than 550
tournaments, including the BNP Paribas family trophy, various training programmes
set up by the French Tennis Federation and Yannick Noah’s “Fête
le Mur” association.
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