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Top 20 players David Ferrer, Juan Monaco and Kei Nishikori will headline the strongest field in the history of the Malaysian Open Kuala Lumpur at the Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil, 22 to 30 September. In announcing that the singles main draw cut-off would be 55, Tournament Director Nick also revealed that former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis and former World No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko had signed on to play.

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“I am very excited to reveal that this year the cut-off for the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur is at 55; that means any player ranked after that would have to get through the tough qualifying rounds or gain a wild card into the main draw,” said Freyer. “To have a cut-off level at 55 highlights how strong this year’s tournament is going to be. It promises to be a sensational week.

“We have players making their debuts in this wonderful city, we have many who are delighted to be returning and we have other names who the tennis fans here will get to know pretty quickly because they will thrill everyone. This is a tremendous honour and we look forward to welcoming them with the warm Malaysian hospitality that they have begun to expect from our tournament.”

Five of Ferrer’s 16 career titles have come this year  – Bastad, s’Hertogenbosch, Acapulco, Buenos Aires and Auckland. He has won titles on grass, clay and hard court this year.

Monaco has six career titles. This year he won in Hamburg, Houston and Vina del Mar and was a finalist in Stuttgart, while Nishikori has made the quarter-finals at six events including the Olympic Games and Australian Open.

World No. 16 Alexandr Dolgopolov was also previously announced but since then, the rising Ukrainian won his first ATP 500 level tournament in Washington DC, which was a huge stepping stone for him. He was also a finalist in Brisbane, a semi-finalist in Umag and a quarter-finalist at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid.

Marcos Baghdatis the 2011 finalist at the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur will compete in the ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the fourth time. The tournament will also welcome back its first champion, Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko, who won the title in 2009. Davydenko has also played in every edition of the tournament.

Joining the impressive field is Olympic medallist, Julien Benneteau, who won the doubles bronze medal for France in London. Not only did he score a medal at the Olympics but he took Roger Federer to five sets at Wimbledon this year, and has even beaten him in the past. It has been a big season for Benneteau because he also reached the final in Sydney.

Tall American Sam Querrey who is back playing some explosive tennis after overcoming injuries from last year, will be making his debut in the city. Querrey says his whole game is working right now.

“Everything's feeling good; serving good; forehand and backhand feel great,” said Querrey.  “Biggest thing is just my confidence.  My confidence is high right now.  I believe I can make a lot of shots, and I think that's a huge part of it.”

The sort of attitude will make him tough to beat in KL. His compatriot Ryan Harrison will be able to show him around Kuala Lumpur because the youngster is making a return. Right now he is on the borderline for direct acceptance but is expected to get into the main draw.

The line-up of countries represented in the direct acceptance totals 13 across four continents, a mini United Nations, with Spain the nation with the most players, four.

Local fans will be delighted to know that Spanish heart throb Feliciano Lopez returns. The lefty, who is very popular with the female fans wherever he plays, is one of the most dangerous players on the ATP World Tour and joining him is the Austrian Jurgen Melzer who won the 500 level singles title in Memphis earlier this year and in a couple of weeks’ time, goes into the US Open as the defending doubles champion.

The Colombian Alejandro Falla may not be a well-known name in Malaysia but watch him in action and fans will understand why he has been such trouble for World No. 1 Roger Federer in their two most recent matches. India’s Yuki Bhambri will be returning as a qualifier at this point. He was given a wild card the very first year of the tournament and his talent is highly recognised on the Tour.

There are 19 direct acceptances in the main draw, three wild cards and four qualifiers. The full entry list is attached. Two special exempts can be used if necessary for qualifiers who have reached the last rounds of the ATP World Tour tournaments the previous week.  Wild cards for local and international players will be announced in early September.

The Malaysian Open Kuala Lumpur is supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia and Tourism Malaysia and commercials sponsors which include Rado, CNN International, the DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur, 100 Plus, Wilson, Astro and ATP Premier Partner Corona. The event is sanctioned by the Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia and is organised by IMG.  Tickets are available via the event website at www.MalaysianOpenTennis.com or via www.Ticketcharge.com.my