NEWS
Arantxa announces the Barcelona KIA’08 players
The tournament will feature our number one Spanish player Anabel Medina as well as notable international players including current champion Meghann Shaughnessy, Russian Maria Kirilenko, French Emilie Loit, and Julia Vakulenko from the Ukraine.
RM Comunicación Integral, 29 April; Director of Sport Arantxa Sánchez Vicario today announced at the 56th annual Godó, the players confirmed to compete at Barcelona KIA’08.
One of the first players to confirm their attendance was the American, Meghann Shaughnessy, currently ranked number 62, and considered to be one of the great veterans of the circuit with 6 singles titles on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and 15 in the doubles category. Shaughnessy will seek to defend the title she won the previous year at Barcelona KIA.
The principal challenger to the title is our number one Anabel Medina, who has advanced her world ranking to 32, and is already credited with 7 titles on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
Spanish line-up
As well as Medina, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario has also confirmed the attendance of great national female talents such as Nuria Llagostera, Carla Suárez, Virginia Ruano and Lourdes Domínguez. “It is a pleasure to be able to announce the attendance of the Spanish players, especially following the great success this weekend in China, where they qualified for the final of the Federation Cup” remarked Arantxa.
Other players to compete to at Barcelona KIA are the Russian Maria Kirilenko, currently ranked 27 in the world, and in great form as she demonstrated two weeks ago in Estoril, the French Emilie Loit and the Ukrainian player Julia Vakulenko who is applying for Spanish nationality.
While at the Godó tournament, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario also highlighted the importance of supporting women’s tennis, saying that “after a number of difficult years it now seems to be on the mend, as they have shown at the Federation Cup final”
The triple champion of Roland Garros also underlined her hopes for the future of the tournament. “My dream is to have a tournament in Spain that will serve as a platform to launch promising youths from throughout the world and Spain in tennis, and I believe we are achieving this with Barcelona KIA.”
