Tashkent, September 18: Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine ranked 162 has been given the top billing in the qualifying rounds of the 11th edition of the Sony Ericsson Tashkent Open which gets underway at the Olympic Tennis school tomorrow.

Ksenia Palkina(170) of Kyrgyzstan who qualified for the main draw and knocked out second seeded Olga Govortsova last year is seeded second in the draw.

Elena Chalova(179), Ksenia Lykina (184) , Alexandra Panova (192), Arina Rodionova(221), Natalia Orlova(226) all of Russia and Lesya Tsurenko (249) of Ukraine are the other seeded players in the draw .Four players from amongst 32 players will make it to the main draw of the event

It will also be day of reckoning for Uzbek youngster’s Vlada Ekshibarova, Lola Azimova , Albina Khabibulina who have been awarded wildcards for the qualifying rounds for one of the premier tennis championships in the WTA Calendar.

Explains, S. Uthrapathy, the tournament director and a driving force behind the success of the Tashkent Open for the last decade, it is an opportunity for these local youngsters to show their skills and graduate into the next level of their careers.

Last year too the committee awarded wildcards to junior tennis players at the Tashkent Open , and many of these youngsters are now ranked in the world and have justified our decision to hand over qualifying wildcards to Uzbek youngsters .

Success of players like Iroda Tulyaganova, Akgul Amanmuradova , can surely be attributed to their participation and performances at Tashkent Open and we hope many more players will follow their suit, he added.

Matches will begin 10 am onwards.