Entry List Released For 2008 BMW Tennis Championship

SUNRISE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The official ATP entry list was released today for the 2008 BMW Tennis Championship with a ranking cutoff of 71. The tournament will be held at the Sunrise Tennis Center March 16 – 23. “This is incredible, the strongest we have ever had and stronger than many ATP tour events this year. We have 10 players ranked in the top 50 entered. It has become a player favorite and the unofficial warm-up event for the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne,” notes Tournament Director Gabe Norona. The Sony Ericsson Open, a Masters Series event in Key Biscayne, is the most important tournament outside the slams – and immediately follows the BMW Tennis Championship.

Those entered in the top fifty are #21 Ivo Karlovic, #32 Gilles Simon, #36 Potito Starace, #37 Michael Llodra, #39 Andreas Seppi, #43 Nicolas Mahut, #44 Janko Tipsarevic, #45 Marin Cilic, #48 Nicolas Kiefer and #49 Sebastian Grosjean, then followed by #52 Marc Gicquel, #55 Albert Montanes, #56 Stefan Koubek, #58 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, #60 Michael Berrer, #61 Jurgen Melzer, #62 Oliver Rochus, #64 Dudi Sela, #67 Arnaud Clement, #69 Kristof Vliegen, #70 Vince Spadea and #71 Victor Hanescu.

Wild card protection has been granted to former #7 Mario Ancic, a finalist at Marseille and winner of 3 ATP titles; former top ten American favorite Robby Ginepri, a semifinalist at Delray and San Jose and Slovak Dominik Hrbaty, winner of 6 ATP titles with a career high ranking of 12.

Highlights of players entered: Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic, currently ranked 21 who has played the event the last 3 years and has 3 ATP tour titles on 3 different surfaces in 2007; Italian Andrea Seppi, last year’s BMWTC finalist – who defeated both Lleyton Hewitt and Rafael Nadal last week; Frenchman Michael Llodra, who won Sunday at Rotterdam; Frenchman Giles Simon, winner of two ATP titles; Austrian Stefan Koubek, holder of 3 ATP titles; Frenchman Arnaud Clement, a former top ten player and holder of 4 ATP titles; and former #4 Nicolas Kiefer, winner of 6 ATP titles. Also in the top group is Israeli superstar Dudi Sela; Frenchman Sebastian Grosjean, winner of 4 ATP titles with a career high ranking of 4; Serbian Janko Tipsarevic who took Roger Federer to 5 sets at the Australian Open, and who is currently the #2 ranked Serbian behind Novak Djokovic; and Marin Cilic, the 19 year old Croatian who made the round of 16 at this year’s Australian Open.

The alternates list includes Dutchman Robin Haase who has wins this year over Marcos Baghdatis and Andy Murray; German Rainer Schuettler, a former top ten player and winner of 4 ATP titles; Japan's Kie Nishikori who won at Delray earlier this month beating James Blake in the final; Chile's Nicolas Massu, former top ten player who holds gold Olympic medals in singles and doubles; Romanian Andre Pavel, winner of 3 ATP titles; plus up-and-coming American players Bobby Reynolds, Robby Kendrick, Amer Delic, Wayne Odesnik and local favorite Jesse Levine.

Four wild cards are available – which can be awarded to any player eliminated in the first 4 days of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California – a Masters tournament which begins 4 days earlier than the BMW Tennis Championship.

For ticket information, go to www.bmwtennischampionship.com. Tickets can be bought online, or by calling the toll free number (877) 877-7677.