Sania may not be among top three seeds at Sunfeast

Sania Mirza may not receive a top three seeding in the forthcoming Sunfeast Open here due to her indifferent form, tournament director Jaidip Mukherjea said Friday.

While the focus of the tournament will be former world number one Martina Hingis of Switzerland, Croat Karolina Sprem and Estonian Kaia Kanepi are also expected to take a leap in the WTA rankings because of their fine form in recent tournaments as well as the ongoing US Open.

With another early exit in the US Open, Sania is sure to drop more points, while Kaia with a third round entry is sure to gain some.

Sania has dropped to 50 in the world rankings as she made early exits from all major tournaments this year. Her only hope is to do well in Bali Open, which is immediately before this tournament.

Talking to reporters, Mukherjea said all three wildcards would be given to Indian players. With Sikha Oberia and Ankita Bhambri sure to get wildcards, the third spot is up for grabs.

Abigail Spears of the US has been given a special entry as a 'Feed-Up' player.

Twelve players will vie for the four qualifying spots and complete the main draw of 32.

Mukherjea also said Canadian Tony Cho will be the WTA appointed tournament referee.

Main Draw (direct entry):

Martina Hingis, Sania Mirza, Karolina Sprem, Yuliana Fedak, Melinda Czink, Kaia Kanepi, Aravane Rezai, Galina Voskoboeva, Yulia Beygelzimer, Hana Sromova, Anastasia Rodionova, Nicole Pratt, Olga Poutchkova, Tamarine Tanasugarn, Angelique Widjaja, Antonella Serra Zaneti, Sandra Kloesel, Lioudmila Skavronskaia, Tatina Piutchek, Yung-jan Chan, Anda Perianu, Tzipore Obziler, Arantxa Para Santonja, Anne Keothavong.