Entry List for 2009 Tournament Boasts Strongest Field Ever

Main Draw Entrants

 

Name

Country

Rank

1

Kevin

Anderson

RSA

156

2

Marcos

Baghdatis

CYP

148

3

Carsten

Ball

AUS

207

4

Alex

Bogdanovic

GBR

220

5

Sergei

Bubka

UKR

194

6

Paul

Capdeville

CHI

83

7

Rik

De Voest

RSA

203

8

Ryler

DeHeart

USA

204

9

Somedev

Devvarman

IND

127

10

Luka

Gregorc

SLO

178

11

Chris

Guccione

AUS

112

12

Kyu Tae

Im

KOR

208

13

Denis

Istomin

UZB

61

14

Alexandre

Kudryavtsev

RUS

200

15

Alex

Kuznetsov

USA

248

16

Harel

Levy

ISR

179

17

Marinko

Matosevic

AUS

199

18

Go

Soeda

JPN

166

19

Sergiy

Stakhovsky

UKR

77

20

Andrea

Stoppini

ITA

188

21

Todd

Widom

USA

237

22

Michael

Yani

USA

228

Please note this is a tentative list and subject to change.

Noteworthy (results are this year, unless noted otherwise):

Denis Istomin from Uzbekistan, with an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world rank of 61, is this year's top ranked entrant and the top ranked entrant in the history of the LG&T. In fact, this year's LG&T tournament features the strongest field ever, with 3 players ranked in the top 83.

The LG&T Tennis Challenger is a true international event, with 15 countries from around the world represented in the main draw, including 4 Americans who represent the future of tennis in the United States. This marks the 16th year for the Challenger held in Binghamton, and the 3rd year with title sponsor Levene, Gouldin and Thompson of Vestal, NY.

Player Highlights:

Marcos Baghdatis- From Limassol, Cyprus, Baghdatis is a former #8 player in the world, reaching that ranking in August 2006. Coming back from a knee injury that forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon this year, he is currently ranked 148 in the world. Baghdatis has a lifetime Davis Cup record of 43-12 playing for Cyprus, and reached the Australian Open round of 16 this year. In 2006, he was an Australian Open finalist, losing to Roger Federer. Also in 2006, Baghdatis lost to Andre Agassi 7-5 in the 5th set in the 2nd round of the US Open in an epic match that was Agassi’s last career win.

Denis Istomin- From Tashkent, Uzbekistan, currently ranked #61 in the world after a serious car accident in 2001 prevented him from playing for 2 years. He reached the quarterfinals at the Eastbourne, GBR grass tournament this year, and won his first round match at the French Open, losing to the eventual finalist and 11th ranked player in the world, Robin Soderling.

Paul Capdeville- From Chile, currently residing in Miami, Capdeville is the returning champion in the LG&T event, defeating Rajeeve Ram 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the 2008 singles final. Capdeville has been a member of the Chilean Davis Cup team since 2004, and was a semi-finalist at the Estoril, Portugal clay court tournament, and a finalist at the Sao Paulo Brazil Challenger event this year. He is currently ranked #83 in the world.

Sergiy Stakhovsky- Ranked at #77 in the world and currently residing in Prostejov, Czech Republic, the 6’4” Stakhovsky speaks 5 languages (Ukrainian, Slovak, Czech, Russian and English) and enjoys reading Russian classics. He was the winner of the 2008 Zagreb Indoor tournament, and advanced to the second round in the 2009 French Open.

Harel Levy- From Israel, Levy has been ranked as low as 30, currently ranked 179. He is a member of the 2009 Israeli Davis Cup team that defeated Russia 4-1 in the quarterfinals. Levy won twice in that Davis Cup match, beating Igor Andreev (ranked 28 in the world) and Igor Kunitsyn (ranked 36 in the world). Israel will face Spain in September in the Davis Cup group semi-finals.

Ryler DeHeart- From Champaign, Illinois, DeHeart comes as the lowest ranked American at 204. DeHeart advanced to the second round of the 2008 US Open after securing a spot in the main draw by winning 3 qualifying matches.