Tennis fans may still be talking about Sania Mirza's pull out from the Bangalore Open, but quite a few big names have been roped in for the $600,000 Tier II WTA Tour event since. With exactly a week to go for the biggest tennis event in the country, the organisers announced another big name to that growing list.

Serbian sensation Jelena Jankovic, the world number four, joins the star-studded field that includes Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Hungarian teenager Agnes Szavay, former top-10s Vera Zvonareva and Patty Schnyder, Maria Kirilenko and Sybille Bammer.

"We have just raised the bar as far as the quality of participation is concerned," said a beaming Sunder Raju, the Tournament Director and secretary Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association.

"Jelena's confirmation after Serena and Venus has put the icing on the cake and taken the game to a different level in the country. We look forward to welcoming her at the Bangalore Open," added Raju.

In a statement, Jankovic, who has five Tour titles, said: "I'm very much thrilled and excited about my first visit to India. It is great to be part of India's first Tier II tennis extravaganza at Bangalore."

The extravaganza gets going this weekend with the qualifying rounds. With Serena — who pulled out last year at the last-minute — giving the Paris and Dubai events a skip, Raju was asked if the former world number one would do a repeat this year.

"We have been in constant touch with her. She has confirmed her participation. She is recovering from a dental surgery and is expected to be in Bangalore by Sunday. We have no reason to believe that she won't be here this time," he explained.

As for Venus, who is playing the Memphis event, Raju said that if she goes all the way, she may arrive on Monday night.

Meanwhile, three Indians — Shikha Uberoi, Sunitha Rao and Isha Lakhani — have applied for wild cards. "We've got a request from the WTA that one more top-20 player is willing to take part. That will be confirmed in a day or two," Raju remarked.

The KSLTA secretary said the re-laid courts at the KSCA will be used as practice courts.

Joining hands

A little earlier, the KSLTA announced that they were joining hands with the Department of Youth Services and Sports and the Sports Authority of Karnataka to make Bangalore a truly global destination.

On the anvil is to host a joint men's and women's event in 2011 or 2012. "Only Miami and Indian Wells get to organise it," Raju noted.

"To start with, we are planning to host the two events separately next year. The men's event will be held some time after the US Open," he added.

Amar Kumar Pandey, Commissioner, DYSS, said the work is on to identify the land for the new stadium. "We're working on it. It will come up somewhere between the international airport and the city."