the biennial tennis event, Heineken Stars, will open on October 1-2 in
HCM City with top tennis professionals who regularly play at the Grand
Slam level.
America's Sam Querrey and Robby Ginepri, Germany's Tommy Haas and
Argentina's David Nalbandian will compete at an exhibition at Phu Tho
Gymnasium.
Querrey, 23, is considered one of the
hopefuls for the future of American tennis, while veteran players
Nalbandian, Ginepri and Haas have each reached the semi-final of a Grand
Slam at least once.
Nalbandian and Haas were once in the top three in the ATP tennis ranking.
Four players will draw to determine the two semi-finals to be played
on October 1. The semi-final winners will play the final on October 2.
All matches will be the best-of-three format. If a third set is necessary, a tiebreak will be played.
The champion will win a trophy and cash prize of 40,000 USD. The
runner-up will receive 20,000 USD and the other two players 10,000 USD
each.
"It is a little bit difficult for us to be
able to bring famous players together because there are only a few ATP
tours in Asia, and players also have a tight schedule," said Michael
Lim, Commercial Director of Vietnam Brewery company, which organises the
event.
In the Heineken Stars 2008 competition in
HCM City, Robin Soderling of Sweden and Tomas Berdych of the Czech
Republic competed. Since then, they each have gone on to compete in the
final of a Grand Slam.
"We're happy that many
players have achieved considerable success after taking part in Heineken
Stars in HCM City," said Lim, adding that he hoped Heineken Stars can
welcome world-class women tennis players in the future.
At the first Heineken Stars in 2006, the organisers also invited four
top tennis players, Spain's former world-number one Carlos Moya,
Germany's Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuttler and Gael Monfils of
France./.
