Familiar Faces to Take Part in Chase Open

The new-look JP Morgan Chase Open in Carson features an old-school lineup, as in familiar faces.

Defending champion Chanda Rubin has played the event five of the last six years, just missing the 1999 tournament. Last year’s finalist, Lindsay Davenport, who won in 1998 and 2001, has appeared eight consecutive times, starting with the 1995 event.

The biggest change among players will be the absence of Serena Williams. Williams had pulled out of the three California hard-court tournaments before knee surgery Friday put her out of the upcoming U.S. Open.

Williams had been in the main draw of this tournament for the last five years, winning in 1999 and 2000. Last year, she exited in the quarterfinals, losing to Rubin in three sets.

This year, the top eight seeded players, in order, are Kim Clijsters of Belgium, Davenport, Rubin, Ai Sugiyama of Japan, Jelena Dokic of Serbia, Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, Conchita Martinez of Spain and Amanda Coetzer of South Africa.

Wild-card spots were given to Mary Pierce of France, Saori Obata of Japan, Angela Haynes of Compton and 14-year-old Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine.