Big stars to shine at China Open

BEIJING - Tennis die-hards in Beijing can expect a Grand Slam caliber event during the National Day holidays as the 2011 China Open released its glittering main draw lists last week.

The biggest combined tournament in Asia, the annual event will attract all the available top 48 female players and most of the top 35 males to fight for a total of $6.1 million in prize money at the Beijing Olympic Tennis Center from Oct 1-9.

China's French Open titlist, Li Na, the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, Danish defending champion Caroline Wozniacki and Russian sensation Maria Sharapova will spearhead a star-studded cast at this year's final mandatory tournament, the highest level WTA event outside of the Grand Slams.

Eight female Grand Slam winners and six former world No 1s are expected to shine under the venue's new sliding roof while slugging it out for the champion's 1,000 ranking points.

After suffering an early exit from the US Open when she lost to Romanian teenager Simona Halep in the first round on Tuesday, world No 7 Li is keen to gain redemption at her first home event of the year.

The 29-year-old said she would be "100 percent" fo-cused on the tournament to pay back the home crowd's support while also vowing to go beyond her personal best performance last year, which saw her reach the semis.

China's Peng Shuai, cur-rently ranked a career-high world No 14, has also entered the main draw directly while compatriots Zheng Jie and Zhang Shuai will have to fight through the qualifying rounds for main draw spots.

The only high-ranking absence in the women's 64-player draw is world No 3 Kim Clijsters, who withdrew from last month's Rogers Cup tournament in Canada and announced she has abandoned the rest of the season due to an abdominal injury.

On the men's side, red-hot world No 1 Novak Djokovic will lead an impressive lineup, which includes big-serving Swede Robin Soderling, promising French star Gael Monfils and American power hitter Andy Roddick, to battle in the 32-player main draw for the winner's 500 ranking points.

Despite the absences of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, two-time major title winner this season, Djokovic is expected to fill that power void while chasing his third consecutive crown in Beijing.

Meanwhile, Aussie veteran Lleyton Hewitt will return to the city where he led his national squad to Davis Cup victory over the host in July, thanks to a wild card, while Spanish former world No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero and Russia's Nikolay Davydenko are also in the main draw thanks to the ranking protection process.