Henin, Davydenko top drawcards at China Open

World number one Justine Henin will be the top seed in Beijing while fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko will lead the men's draw.

World number one Justine Henin will be the top seed in a strong women's line-up at the upcoming China Open, while fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko of Russia will lead the men's draw.

HT Image

Other top 10 players in the men's tournament are Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, Spaniard Tommy Robredo and Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who will be back to defend his 2006 crown, organisers said this week.

The 26-year-old Davydenko will come straight from Flushing Meadows, where he is due to take on world number one Roger Federer in a US Open semi-final on Saturday.

The men's tournament will be played from September 10-16, although the top players have extra time to travel from the United States to China, while the women's event will be staged the following week.

Belgium's Henin, who is also in the semi-finals at the US Open, heads up a China Open field that includes defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and former number ones Amelie Mauresmo of France and Switzerland's Martina Hingis.

Baghdatis clinched his first ATP crown at last year's China Open, dispatching Croatian Mario Ancic, while Kuznetsova edged out Mauresmo for the women's crown. Ancic will also be back this year.

Missing from this year's field will be top Chinese women players Zheng Jie and Li Na, who have both been sidelined by injuries.