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FARMERS CLASSIC 2011

Blake To Play Los Angeles; Haas, Ginepri Awarded Wild Cards

Los Angeles, U.S.A.

by Press Release

 | 

23.07.2011

Blake© Getty ImagesJames Blake, 31, reached the 2007 Los Angeles final, losing to Radek Stepanek.

The singles draw for the 2011 Farmers Classic, presented by Mercedes-Benz, the 85th staging of the ATP World Tour 250 tournament, was made Friday at the LA Tennis Center's Straus Stadium.

Late additions to the 2011 field included the last direct acceptance James Blake, as well as wild cards for two-time Farmers Classic champion Tommy Haas, American Robby Ginepri and 2011 NCAA Champion Steve Johnson from USC.   

View Singles Draw
  
Nineteen-year-old Ryan Harrison earned a spot in the main draw as a special exempt by reaching the Atlanta semifinals. Harrison is the first American teenager to reach an ATP World Tour semifinal since Sam Querrey at the Indianapolis tournament in 2007. 
 
The top two seeds for the 2011 tournament are Mardy Fish, the No. 1 ranked American, and Juan Martin del Potro, the 2008 Los Angeles champion who won the US Open in 2009. Fish, del Potro, third seed Marcos Baghdatis and fourth seed Thomaz Bellucci all have first round byes in the draw.
 
The remaining four seeded positions went to, in order, Xavier Malisse, Dmitry Tursunov, Grigor Dimitrov and Igor Kunitsyn. 
  
First round matches of note include Johnson against 2005 Farmers Classic finalist Gilles Muller, who is also through to the semifinals in Atlanta. The winner of that match will play Fish in the second round.
 
Harrison will play another young talent in 21-year-old Richard Berankis. Haas drew No. 7 seed Dimitrov in the opening round. Former Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzalez drew No. 8  Kunitsyn. Another intriguing match will pit Xavier Malisse against Ernests Gulbis. Blake drew Germany's Michael Berrer, and the winner will play del Potro in the second round. 
 
One player missing from the 2011 field is Querrey who is still recovering from a June elbow surgery. Querrey had won the LA title in 2009 and 2010, was looking to join Fred Perry and Don Budge as the only players to three-peat in Los Angeles.   

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Related Topics:

Farmers Classic, Los Angeles, James Blake, Robby Ginepri, Tommy Haas


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