By Jilawatan

The initial qualifier field announced today for the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open is stronger than the main draw field for the 2008 W&SFG Women’s Open. Last year’s main draw had a cutoff of 99, while this year’s qualifier field has a cutoff of 90.

India’s Sania Mirza ranked 80th in the World is bang near the bottom of the qualifying field, and again finds herself in a dilema following her US summer series schedule. Mirza who won the ITF Lexington Challenger a little more than a week ago ended up missing out on the Qualifying Rounds of the Bank of the West Classic as she was busy playing in the semis and final. This week she finds herself seeded first in Vancouver, and shouls she make the final weekend will miss out on the qualifying rounds yet again!

The acceptance list for the women’s qualifier includes a young American who upset current world No. 5 Jelena Jankovic en route to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon this year, two former W&SFG Women’s Open main-draw semifinalists and six players who’ve reached a singles final on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour this year.

“The qualifier is the warm-up act to the main attraction, but since the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open is at the Premier Level on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour the quality of tennis in the qualifiers here will be extraordinary,” said tournament director Bruce Flory. “We expect a few changes to this list, but this is an excellent start.”

The women’s qualifier will feature a 32-player draw and the eight women who win three matches in the qualifying rounds will be placed in the main draw. Women’s qualifying is August 8 & 9 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.