Kremlin Cup tennis tournament stronger than ever this year

The 13-th Kremlin Cup tennis tournament is going to be stronger than ever this year. The competition starts Saturday at Moscow's Olympiysky Sports Complex.

Among top seeds of the men's tournament are Marat Safin ranked No. 1 in the ATP Champions Race, 5-times Kremlin Cup winner Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Tommy Haas and Nicholas Kiffer of Germany, Sweden's Alberto Costa, Roger Federer from Switzerland and David Nalbandyan from Argentine.

The lineup of the women's tournament is even more impressive, featuring Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati of the USA, last year's winner Jelena Dokic from Yugoslavia, Switzerland's Martina Hingis and Amelie Mauresmo of France.

Russia is represented by Anastasia Myskina (Russia's No.1 player for the moment), Yelena Dementyeva, Tatyana Panova and Nadezhda Petrova.

Qualifying rounds are to be held on Saturday and Sunday at the Olympiysky Sports Complex, with the main tournament starting Monday, September 30. The venue has as many as five tennis courts, all ready for the contest.

The Kremlin Cup was founded in 1990 by Swiss businessman Sasson Kakshouri and is currently one of the ATP category World Series tournaments. This year's prize money totals $2,224,000. The women's tournament enters the Super Nine category, comprising WTA's nine top tennis competitions. The women's tournament has been on the WTA schedule since 1999. It took over from the previously held Moscow Ladies Open competition.

Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov has been the winner of the men's tournament for the last five consecutive years.