December 31, 2001	Monday	Shawwal 15, 1422

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HONG KONG, Dec 30: American tennis ace Jennifer Capriati will head a select cast of international stars vying for the Hong Kong Ladies Challenge at Victoria Park this week.

The players will also be looking to hone their skills ahead of the first Grand Slam event of the year, the Australian Open.

The knock-out tournament in Hong Kong which runs from Jan 2 to 5 also features French star Mary Pierce, Russians Elena Dementieva — the world number 15 — and Lina Krasnoroutskaya, South African Amanda Coetzer and Austrian Barbara Schett.

Asia will be represented by Thailand’s number one Tamarine Tanasugarn and rising Indonesian star Angelique Widjaja — the 2001 junior Wimbledon champion — who will have the daunting task of facing Capriati in the opening round.

Capriati, 25, is back for the third year in a row, having won the Hong Kong exhibition in 2000, defeating Swiss Miss Martina Hingis in the final. That win signalled the beginning of the second coming of Capriati, who first hit the headlines as a 14-year-old.

However injuries and a case of burnout saw her fall from grace, but she bounced back in spectacular fashion last year to claim the French and Australian Open titles.

The world number two also sat briefly on top of the world rankings before being pipped in the last event of the season by Lindsay Davenport.

Co-tournament director Terry Catton said: “We desperately wanted Jennifer to return, and we feel that Hong Kong is something of a lucky omen for her as this is where she played in 2000 before she began her resurgence.

The tournament will offer no prize money as it is “termed a special event and only offers the players appearance money — money to participate,” he said adding the “total budget was about 600,000 dollars US” a significant proportion of which would go to Capriati.

Two-time grand slam winner Mary Pierce will also make her first appearance of the season here after a frustrating injury blighted the 2001 season that contributed to the French beauty’s slump to a lowly world ranking of 129 last season.

KAFELNIKOV TUNES IN: Yevgeny Kafelnikov is aiming to extend his impressive form of 2001 into the new year as he bids to clinch his first title at the Qatar Open which begins here Monday.

The Russian world number four won five titles last year - two singles and three doubles - but feels he needs to put the record straight in Doha where he has never made it past the quarter-final stage.

The Sochi resident is the top seed at the Qatar Open and the only top 10 player in the fray with reigning Wimbledon champion, and world number 12, Goran Ivansevic, seeded second.

The Qatar Tennis Federation are banking on these two stars to sell the tournament which is celebrating its 10th year.

Ivanisevic, whose compulsory national service with the Croatian army has made him an expert at handling Kalashnikovs, has also never won the title in Doha and organisers are hoping he gets his act right this time with the weapon he’s better used to - his powerful racquet.

Rios won’t be defending his title this time, preferring instead to prepare for the Australian Open by playing in the Adelaide ATP event.

BRUGUERA PULLS OUT: Spaniard Sergei Bruguera and Belarussian Vladimir Voltchkov have pulled out of the Indian Open tennis championship starting Monday.

Two-time French Open champion Bruguera withdrew because of a high fever while Voltchkov, who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2000, is nursing an ankle injury.

Argentine Guillermo Canas, who shot up to 14 in the ATP Champions Race in 2001, heads the seeds and will face Swiss George Bastl in the first round.

Defending champion Michal Tabara of the Czech Republic is drawn to meet Dutchman Dennis van Scheppingen, Bruguera’s replacement, in his opening match at the $400,000 event.

The tournament also features the ATP Tour’s top-ranked Swede Thomas Johansson, France’s Davis Cup winner Fabrice Santoro, Romanian Andrei Pavel, Belarussian Max Mirnyi and Slovak Dominik Hrbaty in one of the strongest fields in recent years.

India’s leading players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were given wild cards for the 32-man main draw and the third wild card went to Austrian Oliver Marach.

WILDCARD FOR RODDICK: Anna Kournikova and Andy Roddick have been granted wildcard entries for the Sydney international starting on Jan 6.

The Russian, ranked 74th on the women’s tour after missing much of the year with a foot injury, and the American teenager will use the Sydney tournament as part of their preparations for the Australian Open in Melbourne starting on January 14.—Reuters