Lindsay Davenport Awarded Doubles Wild Card Into Mercury Insurance Open

CARLSBAD, Calif., July 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Tournament officials announced today that American Lindsay Davenport, a former No. 1 player in the world, has accepted a wild card to play in the doubles competition of the 2010 Mercury Insurance Open Presented by Tri-City Medical Center, scheduled for July 31 to Aug. 8 at the La Costa Resort and Spa.

Davenport will play doubles with fellow American Liezel Huber at the Mercury Insurance Open Presented by Tri-City Medical Center, which will feature a 16-team doubles draw. Huber and Davenport represented the United States when they teamed to reach the doubles quarterfinals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

This will be Davenport's 10th career appearance at the La Costa Resort and Spa. She won singles titles here in 1998 and 2004. She also won the doubles title in 1998 with Natasha Zvereva and in 1999 with Corina Morariu. Davenport has not played in a tournament since 2008 when she reached the third round in singles and doubles at the U.S. Open.

In addition to winning 37 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour career doubles titles, Davenport has captured 55 career singles titles including the U.S. Open (1998), Wimbledon (1999) and the Australian Open (2000). She ended the year as the No. 1 singles player in the world in 2001, 2004 and 2005.

"Lindsay has always had a special place in this tournament. Besides being a former two-time singles champion, she also played her first tour event here in 1991 as a 15 year old in qualifying ," said Raquel Giscafre, Mercury Insurance Open tournament director. "She has been a very popular player at this event and I know fans will be excited about her return to the La Costa Resort and Spa."

The 32-player singles draw at the 2010 Mercury Insurance Open  includes Russians Nadia Petrova, Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova as well as Serbia's Ana Ivanovic and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia among the early player entries.

The Mercury Insurance Open Presented by Tri-City Medical Center, a Premier 700 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event offering $700,000 in prize money, marks the return of women's professional tennis to Carlsbad after a two-year hiatus. The event will be televised on Tennis Channel and ESPN 2, and will comprise one of the 10 events of the Olympus U.S. Open Series. For additional information about the Mercury Insurance Open, log onto http://www.mercuryinsuranceopen.com/; join us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/SDTennis); or follow frequent updates on Twitter (http://twitter.com/MercuryInsOpen).

Mercury Insurance Group, title sponsor of the Mercury Insurance Open Presented by Tri-City Medical Center, is offering tennis fans the once-in-a-lifetime chance to win a trip to the 2010 U.S. Open.  Contestants can register to win a package that includes airfare, hotel and VIP tickets to the Open by visiting www.mercuryinsurance.com/tennis.  No purchase is necessary to enter or win.  You must be a legal California resident 18 years of age or older with a valid driver's license to participate in the sweepstakes.

About Mercury Insurance: Founded in 1962, Mercury Insurance (MCY) is a multiple-line insurance organization offering predominantly personal automobile and homeowners insurance through a network of independent agents and brokers in California, Florida, New Jersey, Texas, Arizona, New York, Georgia, Oklahoma, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, Virginia and Pennsylvania. For more information about Mercury Insurance, visit www.mercuryinsurance.com.

About Tri-City Medical Center: Founded in 1957 to serve the healthcare needs of coastal North San Diego County, Tri-City Medical Center is a full-service, acute care hospital with (500) physicians practicing in 60 specialties. The Medical Center is administered by the Tri-City Healthcare District, which includes most of Carlsbad, Oceanside and Vista. For more information about Tri-City Medical Center, please visit www.tricitymed.org.

About the USTA: Now in its seventh season, the Olympus U.S. Open Series has established itself as a true regular season of hard court tennis, linking 10 summer tournaments to the U.S. Open. Fans can follow the action with nearly 200 hours of live television coverage, culminating each week with back-to-back men's and women's finals every Sunday afternoon. Players battle for more than $37 million and a chance for bonus prize money at the U.S. Open. In 2008, Olympus became the first title sponsor of the Series. The Olympus U.S. Open Series is also supported by sponsors American Express, Evian and Grand Marnier.

Sam Querrey won the 2009 Olympus U.S. Open Series men's title and Elena Dementieva won the women's title. In 2007, Roger Federer collected the biggest paycheck in tennis history—$2.4 million—for winning the U.S. Open and the Olympus U.S. Open Series. In 2005, Kim Clijsters captured both the U.S. Open and the Olympus U.S. Open Series, winning $2.2 million—the largest purse in women's sports history.

About Octagon Tennis: Octagon has a rich and proud history in the sport of tennis, having managed the careers of 63 Grand Slam Champions and 11 Olympic gold medalists over three decades. In addition, Octagon owns or manages more professional tennis events than any other agency with WTA and ATP events including the Kremlin Cup, Brasil Open, the Movistar Open and the Western & Southern Financial Group Championships, which is also part of the Olympus U.S. Open Series, among others. For more information, please visit www.octagontennis.com.

SOURCE Mercury Insurance