Davenport, Serena Entered at Carson

Three of the top four ranked women’s tennis players in the world, and five of the top seven, have entered the JPMorgan Chase Open Aug. 8-14 at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

Defending champion and No. 1-ranked Lindsay Davenport leads the field. She will be joined by Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova of Russia (No. 2), Australian Open champion Serena Williams (No. 4), Elena Dementieva of Russia (No. 5) and U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia (No. 7).

Another early marquee entrant is Kim Clijsters of Belgium. Clijsters, returning after an injury-riddled 2004, earned the No. 1 ranking at this tournament two years ago. Clijsters, ranked 17th, has won back-to-back tournaments and reached another semifinal since returning to the tour earlier this year.

The event is part of the series of hard-court tournaments leading up to the U.S. Open. Missing from the early entries is Venus Williams, who lost to Davenport in Carson last year, pulling out of their semifinal match because of an injury.

The Carson tournament follows the Carlsbad event, rather than the other way around, as it was last year. Carlsbad is the second of three California hard-court tournaments.

“We’re comfortable being third. It gives us more opportunity to get the field we do have,” said Carson tournament director Bill Peterson. “We’re closer to the U.S. Open and further along in the U.S. Open series.”