The US$170,000 Pattaya Women's Open professional women's tennis tournament, which is being staged at the Dusit Thani, Pattaya from 2-10 February has attracted a strong field of entries, of which over half represent the younger generation of tennis stars making their way to the top of their profession.

Heading the field are the teenage Radwanska sisters from Poland. Both girls enjoyed extremely good results last year. Agnieszka Radwanska, the elder of the two girls finished the season ranked 26 in the world. A former junior Wimbledon champion, she capped a memorable year by beating Maria Sharapova in the U.S. Open adding to victories over Martina Hingis and Daniella Hantuchova and a first Tour title in Stockholm. Urzsula Radwanska, the younger of the two girls also had a fine season finishing as No 1 ranked junior in the world and emulating her sister by winning the junior Wimbledon title. She also appeared at the PTT Bangkok Open and reached the quarter-finals beating No 4 seed Virginia Razzano in the process.

The Radwanska sisters will face some stiff competition from a number of other rising stars, notably Taiwan's Ying-Jan Chan of Taiwan who finished 2007 as runner-up in the PTT Bangkok Open, Vania King of the USA, 2006 PTT Bangkok Open champion, Indian superstar Sania Mirza and France's Aravane Rezai. As well as the young bloods, the 20008 Pattaya Women's Open also has many established stars in the field, including former top 10 players Alicia Molik from Australia, Mara Santangelo and Roberta Vinci from Italy.

Thailand's challenge will once again be led by Tamarine Tanasugarn, who reached the final here in 1996, she will be joined in the main draw by wild card entry Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, who on her debut in Pattaya last year stormed through the qualifying rounds before falling to Japan's Nakamura in three sets.

Mr.Sarun Rungkasiri Vice President Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand Under His Majesty's Patronage revealed that "this year's Pattaya Women's Open will once again provide the springboard for one of the game's stars to leap to fame. In 2006 Shahar Peer won her maiden tournament in Pattaya and has since risen to be an established top 20 player. Last year Sybille Bammer earned her first title in Pattaya and she also has gone onto climb into the top 20. This year any one of the main draw players could take the crown, so the matches will be very competitive and exciting throughout the week".

The Qualifying rounds of the 2008 Pattaya Women's Open will be held on the 2-4 February with play commencing at 09.00. Main draw matches will start from the 5 February with play starting from 15.00 daily, including the finals on Sunday 10 February.

Tickets are on sale from today at the following prices:

2-3 February 2008 : 200 baht
4-7 February 2008 : 300 and 500 baht
8-10 February 2008 : 300, 500, 800, 1,000 baht

For further information and bookings, call 02-3823491-3, or contact ThaiTicketMajor at 02-2623456 or www.thaiticketmajor.com

Official sponsors of the 2008 Pattaya Women's Open are Pattaya City, Chonburi Provincial Administration Organization, PTT Group, Sony Ericsson, the Dusit Thani Pattaya and Today Express/Maya Channel