2010 CBTC, List of Players

WTA has announced the players to participate at the 2010 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions to be held in Bali, 4-7 November 2010.

Despite their international tournament wins and high rankings, Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, and Kaia Kanepi will not be playing in Bali due to unspecified reasons.

The Tournament announced Japanese veteran, Kimiko Date Krumm another Wild Card to replace Ana Ivanovic who qualified by default after her win at Linz. Date Krumm has not won any international tournament, but has shown good progress at the end of the season.


1 Li Na Rank: 11 | Won: Birmingham
2 Aravane Rezai Rank: 18 | Won: Bastad
3 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Rank: 20 | Won: Monterrey, Istanbul
4 Yanina Wickmayer Rank: 22 | Won: Auckland
5 Ana Ivanovic Rank: 24 | Won: Linz
6 Alisa Kleybanova Rank: 27 | Won: Kuala Lumpur

7 Daniela Hantuchova Rank: 27 - WILD CARD
8 Kimiko Date Krumm Rank: 53 - WILD CARD


This has let other higher ranked players who are qualified for the tournament in dismay. Alona Bondarenko (ranked 36, won Hobart), Agnes Szavay (37, Budapest & Prague), and Roberta Vinci (38, Luxembourg) are not on the list.


Compared to those three players, Hantuchova and Date Krumm have advantages as the Tournament found them having selling factors. Those who do not really follow WTA Tour updates (even the journalists) know Hantuchova better than the other three players. She is beautiful and attractive and has been playing in Bali several times.

Kimiko Date Krumm is the oldest player on tour and has been the most succesful Japanese tennis player in singles. The Tournament is targetting Japanese tourists to flood Bali International Convention Centre in Nusa Dua to cheer on their heroine. Tennis wise, she remains highly competitive. It is not a bad choice, but I myself have a pity on those higher ranked players.

Other Possible Qualified Players for 2010 CBTC

There are several other high ranked players who could possibly qualify for the 2010 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions. Shahar Peer (ISR, 13), Nadia Petrova (RUS, 16), Marion Bartoli (FRA, 17), and Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS, 20) can surpass the players on this week list of Bali possible contenders, but they need to win any of the last three international tournaments left, namely Osaka, Linz, and Luxembourg.

Petrova and Kuznetsova do not play this week and do not enroll for Luxembourg. Bartoli and Peer could not make it in Osaka. Bartoli has just lost in straight sets, 26 57, to Tamarine Tanasugarn at the semifinal in Osaka today. Shahar Peer did not take advantage of her first set win and eventually lost to home favorite and last year CBTC semifinalist, Kimiko Date Krumm, 63 67 57.

It is impossible for Date Krumm to go to Bali again even if she wins Osaka and the premium level tournament in Moscow next week. Her current points of 1090 only put her in the 56th position in the WTA Tour singles ranking. She would not surpass the points and rankings of Alysa Kleybanova (2105 at 26) and Kaia Kanepi (2490 at 22).

In Linz, Bali wild card, Ana Ivanovic (SER, 29) is playing the semifinals and now leading 63 22 against Roberta Vinci of Italy. Patty Schnyder keeps her hope alive by reaching the final after a three sets win over Andrea Petkovic, 62 46 75. At ranking of 47 and 1220 points Schnyder needs to win in Linz and get more points next week to qualify for Bali. She needs to play Moscow instead of Luxembourg in order to win more points.

CBTC Draw

The draw for the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions has been made. Twelve players are split into four groups of three, with one each of the top four seeds placed into Group A, B, C and D in order of ranking. The next four players based on ranking were then drawn and placed in each group, followed by the final four.

The highest ranked winner of any of the Groups will be placed at the top of the semi-final draw, with the second highest ranked placed at the bottom. The remaining two semi-finalists will be drawn to play in the top or bottom half.


Group A:
Marion Bartoli
Shahar Peer
Magdalena Rybarikova

Bartoli have lost to Peer six times in seven encounters. The only win came in Wimbledon this year. While against Rybarikova, Bartoli leads 2-1. The only lost was in New Heaven when Bartoli was forced to retire due to injury. Peer and Rybarikova have never played each other in WTA Tour.


Group B:
Samantha Stosur
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez
Agnes Szavay

Szavay defeated Stosur in two sets at R32 of 2007 New Heaven.
Either Szavay or Stosur has never played Martinez-Sanchez before.


Group C:
Yanina Wickmayer
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Kimiko Date Krumm

Anabel defeated Yanina 1-6 6-3 6-3 in R32 of 2009 Strasbourg, but it was in red clay.
Anabel defeated Kimiko in Guangzhou, but lost to her in Seoul final this year.
Kimiko has never played Yanina.


Group D:
Sabine Lisicki
Melinda Czink
Aravane Rezai

Lisicki and Czink have met twice in 2008. Lisicki won in the 2nd round of Australian Open, but lost in Quebec City (carpet). Both matches went to three sets.
Czink and Rezai played each other twice last year. Rezai won 6-4 6-2 in Tokyo, but had to retire in Beijing while trailed 2-6 0-1.
The only encounter between Lisicki and Rezai was in the opening round of 2009 US Open when Lisicki prevails after a hard fought three setter 7-6(4) 6-7(4) 6-1.


Vera Dushevina, the alternate, will replace any injured or ill player.

Ten Players are Qualified for CBTC

As Sabine Lisicki lost to Timea Bacsinszky at the Luxembourg final , none of them acquired direct acceptance to Tournament of Champion in Bali. Bacsinszky only managed to reach 55 at the WTA ranking this week.

1. Vera Zvonareva (9, RUS)
2. Marion Bartoli (12, FRA)
3. Samantha Stosur (13, AUS)
4. Yanina Wickmayer (19, BEL)
5. Anabel Medina Garrigues (27, ESP)
6. María José Martínez Sánchez (31, ESP)
7. Shahar Peer (32, ISR),
8. Melinda Czink (39, HUN)
9. Agnes szavay (42, HUN)
10. Aravane Rezai (44, FRA)
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11. Magdalena Rybarikova (46, SVK)
12. Vera Dushevina (49, RUS)

Two players who have won at least one international tournament and ranked immediately below Rezai will be the alternates in CBTC and will automatically replace any of the above ten if the player is injured or ill. Let's see who will be nominated for wild cards at this event. I am hoping that Sabine Lisicki will be given one.

Should the tournament or WTA does not nominate any wild card players, Rybarikova and Dushevina will fill in the last two places and the players below them, Andrea Petkovic (54, GER) and Timea Bacsinszky (55, SUI) will be the alternates.

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The Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions (“CBTC”) will be held in Nusa Dua, Bali, from November 4 to 8, 2009 at the Bali International Convention Centre adjacent to The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali. CBTC will present 10 top tennis players who have won at least one International Tournament of Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in 2009 and 2 wild cards. The winner of this event will receive USD 600.000 prize money.

Among the winners of 2009 International Tournaments, 10 highest ranked players who are not participating in the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha this week are qualified for CBTC. They will be joined by 2 wild cards to be nominated by the tournament owner or WTA. The 12 participants will be divided into four groups of three players to compete in round-robin singles format. The winners of the groups will play in single elimination semifinals for the places in the final.

Official Website of the tournament: http://www.commbanktennis.com/