Davydenko heads China Open field

　　Tennis:

　　BEIJING, Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) - Non-stop Nikolay Davydenko continues his hectic schedule as he heads the field at the fourth edition of the China Open from Monday.

　　The Russian faces a round-the-world dash to get to China after losing a weekend semi-final at the US Open and will face a stern fitness test by the time he steps onto court in the Far East.

　　The world number four will be competing at the Beijing tennis centre for the second consecutive year after losing in the 2006 quarter-finals to Thai Paradorn Srichaphan.

　　The top seed opens his bid to become the second Russian titleholder after Marat Safin three years ago as he faces American Zack Fleishman, ranked 135th on the ATP.

　　Davydenko has managed to put mentally aside suspicions over irregular betting patterns in a match he lost in July which have led to an ATP probe.

　　The Russian, who says he has nothing to do with the matter, is due to be questioned in mid-September by Scotland Yard investigators hired to get to the bottom of the incident.

　　Chile's second seed Fernando Gonzalez will have another chance to turn around a miserable post-Wimbledon season, with four consecutive losses weighing down his confidence.

　　The South American is making his Beijing debut with hopes of recovering lost form and plays Austrian Alexander Peya in the first round.

　　Spain's Tommy Robredo takes the third seeding while Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, another early loser at the US Open, is seeded fourth, starting against a qualifier.

　　Marcos Baghdatis gets a qualifier as he takes up his title defence, with plenty of time to train after going out in the New York first round last week to Max Mirnyi.

　　Korea's Lee Hyung-taik on the sixth seeding is the top Asian in the field with Thailand's Srichaphan absent due to a long-term wrist injury.

　　Officials have granted wild card entries to German Nicolas Kiefer, playing the event for the first time, as well as local players Yu Xin-Yuan and Sun Peng.

　　Seeds:

　　Nikolay Davydenko (RUS x1)

　　Fernando Gonzalez (CHI x2)

　　Tommy Robredo (ESP x3)

　　Ivan Ljubicic (CRO x4)

　　Marcos Baghdatis (CYP x5)

　　Lee Hyung-taik (KOR x6)

　　Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (FRA)

　　Igor Kunitysn (RUS x8)

　　afp07