Tournament Preview: Palermo 26 Sept-2 Oct 2005

FINAL CLAY TOURNAMENT OF 2005

The clay season culminates on the sunny Mediterranean island of Sicily in the city of Palermo and the field once again has 
a very latin flavour. Heading the list is world number 13, David Ferrer, of Spain who has had a stellar season. He is 
joined by compatriot and world number 17, Tommy Robredo; Athens Olympic gold medalist, Nicolas Massu from Chile; and last 
year's winner, rising Czech, Tomas Berdych. Other exciting young players who have accepted to play here are Frenchmen 
Paul-Henri Mathieu and Gaël Monfils, Spaniards Fernando Verdasco and Nicolas Almagro, Igor Andreev of Russia and the 
Argentine, José Acasuso. The Italians will also have something to cheer about with Filippo Volandri (last year's finalist), 
Davide Sanguinetti and Andreas Seppi all taking part as well. The tournament also gained another drawcard recently when 
they awarded a wildcard to Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero. The former world number 1, who is currently ranked number 20, won 
the French Open in 2003 and, after a 2004 plagued with injuries and illness which saw his ranking plummet, he is well on 
his way back to the top and will definitely provide great excitement for his fans in Palermo. 

With the abundance of talent and experience of this year's players, there is bound to be fierce competition on the red clay 
of the Circolo del Tennis. Ferrer would have to be considered the favourite at this stage, given his performances on clay 
this year - he reached the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo and Rome Masters, the French Open (losing only to eventual 
champion Rafael Nadal) and Umag; the semifinal of Viña del Mar and the final of Valencia. Another possible challenger could 
be fellow Spaniard, Tommy Robredo, who has also performed well on clay in 2005, reaching the final at Estoril, the 
quarterfinals of the French Open during which he beat Marat Safin, the semifinals of Båstad and the quarterfinals at Umag. 
Juan Carlos Ferrero, of course, is always in with a chance given his wealth of clay court experience, however one should 
never discount outsiders either. Last year it was the teenager from the Czech Republic who prevailed...who will it be this 
year?

Event qualifying begins on Saturday 24 September, with the main draw competition getting under way on Monday 26 September. 
Tickets may be purchased online from http://www.frontrowusa.com/Tennis/Campionati_Internazionali_Di_Sicilia_Tickets.htm. 
The tournament is held at Circolo del Tennis, Viale del Fante 3...and more information on the venue can be found by 
visiting http://www.circolotennis.palermo.it/ . So if you want to see some quality clay court action, the last for 2005, 
the Campeonati Internazionali di Sicilia are ideal to do so while holidaying in the sun and exploring the 
historic charm of Mediterranean Italy!

Tournament Fast Facts:
Venue: Circolo del Tennis, Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Dates: 24 September - 2 October 2005
Singles Qualifying: 32 draw 
http://www.atptennis.com/en/common/TrackIt.asp?file=/en/common/TrackIt.asp?file=/posting/2005/325/QS.pdf
Main Draw Singles: 32 http://www.atptennis.com/en/common/TrackIt.asp?file=/posting/2005/325/MDS.pdf
Main Draw Doubles: 16 
http://www.atptennis.com/en/common/TrackIt.asp?file=/en/common/TrackIt.asp?file=/posting/2005/325/QS.pdf
Surface: outdoor clay
Prize money: €302,000
Tournament Director: Cino Marchese

Main Draw Players:
1 Ferrer, David ESP 19 
2 Robredo, Tommy ESP 21 
3 Massu, Nicolas CHI 31 
4 Berdych, Tomas CZE 36 
5 Volandri, Filippo ITA 37 
6 Pavel, Andrei ROM 40 
7 Mathieu, Paul-Henri FRA 43 
8 Monfils, Gael FRA 46 
9 Hanescu, Victor ROM 47 
10 Verdasco, Fernando ESP 48 
11 Rochus, Christophe BEL 49 
12 Andreev, Igor RUS 50 
13 Acasuso, Jose ARG 52 
14 Chela, Juan Ignacio ARG 56 
15 Sanguinetti, Davide ITA 57 
16 Zib, Tomas CZE 60 
17 Martin, Alberto ESP 62 
18 Calleri, Agustin ARG 66 
19 Mayer, Florian GER 68 
20 Seppi, Andreas ITA 71 
21 Zabaleta, Mariano ARG 75 
22 Serra, Florent FRA 76 
23 Hernandez, Oscar ESP 78 
24 Sabau, Razvan ROM 80 
25 Almagro, Nicolas ESP 84 
26 (WC) Aldi, Francisco ITA
27 (WC) Ferrero, Juan Carlos ESP
28 (WC) 
29 (Q) 
30 (Q) 
31 (Q) 
32 (Q) 

Alternates:
1. Montanes, Albert ESP 88 
2. Bracciali, Daniele ITA 90 
3. Behrend, Tomas GER 92 
4. Starace, Potito ITA 102 
5. Costa, Albert ESP 103 
6. Mantilla, Felix ESP 104 
7. Sanchez, David ESP 106 
8. Di Mauro, Alessio ITA 115 
9. Vicente, Fernando ESP 121 
10. Ventura, Santiago ESP 123 
11. Vliegen, Kristof BEL 125 
12. Ulihrach, Bohdan CZE 127 
13. Marin, Juan Antonio CRC 130 
14. Aldi, Francesco ITA 131 
15. Greul, Simon GER 135