Chakvetadze A Challenger In Madrid

LINZ, Austria - Anna Chakvetadze has become the sixth player to qualify for the singles event at the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, set to take place in Madrid's Recinto Ferial Casa de Campo, November 6-11. The Russian has assured herself of a berth in Madrid with 2626 points on this week's Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships Standings, behind Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanovic and Serena Williams.

This marks the first time the Russian has qualified for the prestigious year-ending event. She is the third newcomer to have qualified for this year's Championships from the six singles players announced to date and is also the sixth player from Russia to crack the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's Top 5 Rankings in the last three years.

"I'm so excited to play in my first Sony Ericsson Championships," Chakvetadze said. "I love the beautiful city of Madrid and I'm hoping to perform very well. This has been an amazing year for me, having reached the Top 5 in the world, and I am looking forward to finishing strongly in Madrid."

"Anna Chakvetadze has been one of the breakthrough stars of 2007," said Larry Scott, Chairman & CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. "Anna’s debut at this year's Sony Ericsson Championships further reflects the terrific mix of established names and new faces that will descend on Spain's capital this year."

"With the Sony Ericsson Championships taking place now in less than two weeks, the excitement is continuing to build as we see Anna Chakvetadze, who has had a phenomenal year, be the sixth player to qualify." said Dee Dutta, CVP and Global Head of Marketing at Sony Ericsson. "The Sony Ericsson Championships is all about being the very best; it's a week not to be missed and should be placed firmly on everyone’s calendar."

"We are very happy that Chakvetadze has qualified for Madrid," said Tournament Director and Spanish tennis legend Manolo Santana. "She has had an impressive season and we look forward to seeing her compete at her highest level in a few days here."

Chakvetadze is having the best season of her career, having won four singles titles (only world No.1 Justine Henin has claimed more in 2007) at Hobart, 's-Hertogenbosch, Cincinnati and Stanford. She has won over 50 singles matches, reached the semifinals of the US Open and the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and Roland Garros, in addition to winning over $1 million so far.

The Sony Ericsson Championships is the richest annual women's sporting event in the world. The tournament is the year-ending punctuation to an 11-month global Tour which finally gathers the Top 8 singles players and Top 4 doubles teams from the season to battle it out for a share of the $3-million prize purse. Since its inception in 1972, the event has been held in such notable venues as Madison Square Garden, New York City, the Olympiahalle in Munich and The Forum and Staples Centre in Los Angeles. Former singles champions include Tracy Austin, Kim Clijsters, Chris Evert, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis, Martina Navratilova, Gabriela Sabatini and Serena Williams. The reigning champions are Henin (singles) and Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur (doubles).