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Field Set For Bali WTA Event Send-Off
Sandy Pramuji | October 26, 2011

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A promising Bali send-off is in store for the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions after the World Tennis Association announced the lineup for the season-ending event.

The presence of the six highest-ranked International Series tournament winners, excluding those who qualified for the WTA Championships in Istanbul, have been confirmed.

Indonesia’s only WTA-sanctioned tournament will run from Nov. 3 to 6 at the Bali International Convention Center in Nusa Dua.

World No. 9 Marion Bartoli leads a field that includes Sabine Lisicki (18), Roberta Vinci (22), Daniela Hantuchova (23), Anabel Medina Garrigues (28), and Nadia Petrova (31). Defending champion Ana Ivanovic and China’s Peng Shuai received wild cards.

Bartoli is back in Bali for the first time since losing to Aravane Rezai in the final of the inaugural tournament in 2008. She has enjoyed strong showings this year, winning tournaments in Eastbourne, England, and Osaka, Japan, as well as reaching the semifinals of the French Open.

Lisicki, Garrigues, and Hantuchova also return to the resort island. Lisicki, who won in Birmingham, England, and Texas, and Garrigues bowed out in the group stage of the first edition of the tournament. Hantuchova reached last year’s semifinals, losing to Alisa Kleybanova.

Vinci and Petrova also look set to make noise in their Bali debut. Vinci has enjoyed her most successful year to date, winning the Barcelona Ladies Open, Unicef Open and Budapest Grand Prix.

Petrova, meanwhile, claimed the Citi Open championship in Washington, D.C.

“We are delighted to have such a strong player field in what will be the final year of operating the Tournament of Champions in Bali,” tournament director Kevin Livesey said in a statement.

“We look forward to welcoming them, and I know that everyone in Bali is looking forward to an exciting event.”

The $600,000 tournament will make its final appearance in Bali this year after the WTA announced in June that the event would move to Sofia, Bulgaria, for the next three years.

The Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) has been trying to keep the tournament in the country. However, it struggled to secure enough sponsorship deals to keep the championship in Indonesia.