Tennis tournaments this week

Family Circle Cup (WTA)

Defending champion Serena Williams opted to skip the event after suffering from a leg injury incurred during the Sony Ericsson Open final in Miami. The world number one did commit to take part in promotional events organized by tournament officials. Russian Elena Dementieva replaced Williams as tournament top seed.

Here’s the list of seeded players:

[1] Elena Dementieva
[2] Venus Williams
[3] Vera Zvonareva
[4] Nadia Petrova
[5] Caroline Wozniacki
[6] Marion Bartoli
[7] Dominika Cibulkova
[8] Patty Schnyder

Winner: $187,815 plus 470 ranking points

Monte Carlo Masters (ATP 1000)

World number one Rafael Nadal is back to defend the title for the fifth time. A possible fourth consecutive Nadal-Federer final match could be seen in this tournament after newlywed Roger Federer decided to enter the event after all. Federer is a three-time runner up in this tournament (2006, 2007 and 2008), losing all three finals matches to Nadal. This year, 9 of the world’s top ten are entered in this tournament - the only absentee is world no. 6 American Andy Roddick.

Here’s the list of seeded players:

[1] Rafael Nadal
[2] Roger Federer
[3] Novak Djokovic
[4] Andy Murray
[5] Juan Martin Del Potro
[6] Gilles Simon
[7] Fernando Verdasco
[8] Nikolay Davydenko

Barcelona Ladies Open (WTA)

French teenager Alizé Cornet is the top seed in this $220,000 International event. The tournament directors in this 7-year old event are International Tennis Hall of Famer Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Jose Luis Rivera.

Here’s the list of seeded players:

[1] Alize Cornet
[2] Flavia Pennetta
[3] Anabel Medina Garrigues
[4] Kaia Kanepi
[5] Carla Suarez Navarro
[6] Maria Kirilenko (defending champion)
[7] Sara Errani
[8] Sorana Cirstea

Winner: $37,000 plus 280 ranking points

via TennisGuru website