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The commitment list announced today for the 2009 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters & Women's Open is the strongest in the 111-year history of the event. Only 44 men and 45 women are given direct acceptance into each singles draw, and the last man on the preliminary list is ranked No. 44 while the last woman is ranked No. 49.

"This is the first year for our upgraded women's event, and both the men's and women's fields will be spectacular," said tournament director Bruce Flory. "Fans will see all the world's best players back-to-back in Cincinnati in August."

The women kick off play first, and 18 of the top 20 are in the field, led by World No. 1 Dinara Safina as well as Serena Williams, the current holder of three of the four Grand Slam titles. Venus Williams, this year's Wimbledon finalist, joins her sister in Cincinnati as does reigning French Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova and reigning Olympic Gold Medalist Elena Dementieva. They will be joined by former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters who is making her return to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in Cincinnati.

The men's tournament is equally stacked, with French Open and Wimbledon champion and newly re-seated world No. 1 Roger Federer looking to add a third Cincinnati title. No. 2 Rafael Nadal is expected to return to the place where he clinched the world No. 1 ranking last year. American and Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick will look for a third Cincinnati title. Defending champion and world No. 3 Andy Murray, last year's finalist Novak Djokovic, and fan favourite James Blake are expected to play as well.

In addition to these 45 women and 44 men, the 56-player main draw fields also will include:

Wild Cards - These are spots in each main draw which are filled at the tournament's discretion. The selection of four men and two women (of the three women's wildcards, one has already been granted to Kim Clijsters) will be made between now and the draw ceremonies. The women's draw ceremony is at noon on Saturday, August 8, and the men's is at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, August 14.

Qualifiers - The women's event will feature a 32-player qualifier draw and the men's event will have a 28-player qualifier. The eight women who win three matches in the qualifying rounds will be placed in the main draw, as will the seven men who win two matches in the qualifying rounds. Women's qualifying is August 8 & 9 and men's qualifying is August 15 & 16.

Special Exempt - This is a spot left open in the men's draw for a player who would have had to go through the qualifying rounds in Cincinnati but who is in the semifinals at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Canada, which are played at the same time as qualifying in Cincinnati. (If this doesn't occur, the spot is used by the next player in line for direct acceptance.)

Players who did not gain direct acceptance and may have to qualify include Marat Safin and Carlos Moya, both of whom have been ranked No. 1 in the world, and Ernests Gulbis, a quarterfinalist here last year.

On the women's side, notable players who are below the cut-off line include Natalie Dechy (2008 W&SFG Women's Open finalist), Maria Kirilenko (‘08 semifinalist here), Jelena Dokic (former world No. 4), Nicole Vaidisova (two-time Grand Slam semifinalist) and Melaine Oudin (the 16-year-old from Georgia who reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon this year).

The 2009 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters & Women's Open will be held August 8-23 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.

File Photograph: Madrid Open