(Carson, CA) -- Svetlana Kuznetsova, the No. 7 ranked player on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, No. 17 ranked Daniela Hantuchova and No. 32 ranked Tatiana Golovin have all confirmed their participation in the 2006 JPMorgan Chase Open presented by Herbalife, according to tournament Director Bill Peterson.

\"These additional players will make this year's field among the strongest ever for Los Angeles' only stop on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour,\" said Peterson.  \"With this outstanding group of players all tuning up for the U.S. Open, our fans are sure in for great tennis action.\"

Kuznetsova, a 21 year old from St. Petersburg Russia, won the Miami Open in March of this year by defeating Amelie Mauresmo 6-1, 6-4.  Kuznetsova also advanced to the finals of the 2006 French Open, but came up short against Justine Henin-Hardene who won the championship 6-4, 6-4.  Kuznetsova sports a 39-12 record in singles matches to date.

Hantuchova is back for another run at the JPMorgan Chase Open singles crown.  Last year, she advanced to the finals, before suffering a 6-4, 6-1 loss to 2005 champion Kim Clijsters.  Hantuchova advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon this year and has a 21-14 record in singles matches this year.

Golovin, currently No. 32 on the circuit, has been ranked as high as No. 18, which she earned last year.  The 18 year old Russian native is 13-10 in singles match play in 2006.

This year's field includes the following players who have already committed to playing in the week-long August event:  No. 4 ranked Maria Sharapova (Russia), No. 5 ranked Nadia Petrova (Russia), No. 6 ranked, Elena Dementieva (Russia), No. 24 ranked Venus Williams (USA) and sister Serena Williams (USA), a seven-time grand slam champion who is coming back from an injury and playing in Cincinnati this week. 

They are joined by Ai Sugiyama (Japan), currently ranked No. 19 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, No. 24 ranked Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain), No. 25 ranked Shahar Peer (Israel), No. 38  Shuai Peng (China), No. 40 Sania Mirza (India), No. 47 ranked Akiko Morigami (Japan),   and No. 82 ranked Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain).

For the third consecutive year, the tournament will also feature a fireworks extravaganza on Saturday night as well as Courtside Cuisine by Wolfgang Puck throughout the week-long tournament.  The annual fireworks show is one of the biggest and best fireworks shows in Southern California and Courtside Cuisine is a special hospitality area that will serve a menu of items prepared daily from recipes created by Puck.

Other event promotions slated for this year's tournament include a Health & Wellness Day presented by Herbalife on Friday, including a Jumbo Tennis Ball Giveaway scheduled for the night session.  Saturday features a JPMorgan Chase Open Tennis Racquet Giveaway during the day session for the first 5,000 fans.  Additionally, all tournament guests arriving in Land Rover vehicles will receive complimentary VIP parking throughout the week, compliments of Land Rover.

All session ticket packages starting at just $225 are currently on sale for the 2006 JPMorgan Chase Open presented by Herbalife with groups of 10 or more starting at only $10.  In addition, weekend ticket packages, which sold out last year, are also currently on sale.   The weekend package includes a total of five sessions over Friday (two sessions), Saturday (two sessions) and the finals on Sunday.  Weekend packages for the tournament start at just $115. Also available is the Legends Pack, which includes tickets for Opening Night and Thursday Night starting at just $40.50. Other VIP experiences are available for Opening Night which include special clinics and a reception with appearances from Pete Sampras and Jim Courier.

For more information on all ticket packages, call 1-877-AEG-TICKETS (1-877-234-8425) or log on to www.jpmorganchaseopen.com

The JPMorgan Chase Open is also a part of the prestigious US Open Series, which links 10 summer hard-court tournaments to the famed US Open.  This year's JPMorgan Chase Open marks the third time players competing in the US Open Series tournaments will be vying for bonus prize money at the US Open.  Players competing in the \"summer season\" of tennis at the participating Sony Ericsson WTA Tour tournaments will receive US Open Series points which will ultimately earn the winner of the series the opportunity to double her US Open prize money.     

The 2006 JPMorgan Chase Open…THE ULTIMATE TENNIS CELEBRATION.

About the JPMorgan Chase Open presented by Herbalife
The JPMorgan Chase Open presented by Herbalife, at 37 years old and one of the most historic events in women's tennis, is being held for the fourth consecutive year at The Home Depot Center.  The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Tier II event offers prize money of $600,000 to the 56-player singles and 16-team doubles draws.  The distinguished tournament champions' list includes Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King.

About JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $1.3 trillion and operations in more than 50 countries.  The firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers, small business and commercial banking, financial transaction processing, asset and wealth management, and private equity. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world's most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its JPMorgan and Chase brands. Information about the firm is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.

About The Home Depot Center
The Home Depot Center is southern California's home of world-class competition and training facilities for amateur, Olympic, collegiate and professional athletes.  The $150 million, privately financed facility was developed and is operated by AEG on a 125-acre site on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) in Carson, California.  The Home Depot Center features an 8,000-seat tennis stadium, a 27,000-seat stadium for soccer, rugby and other athletic competitions and outdoor concerts, a 10,000-seat facility for track & field and lacrosse, the ADT Event Center (a 2,450-seat indoor velodrome for cycling) and other facilities for softball, baseball, beach volleyball, basketball and other sports. The Home Depot Center is home to three professional sports teams - Major League Soccer's 2005 MLS and U.S. Open Cup Champion Los Angeles Galaxy; Club Deportivo (CD) Chivas USA; and Major League Lacrosse's (MLL) Los Angeles Riptide.  Named an Official U.S. Olympic Training Site, The Home Depot Center is also home of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) USA Tennis High Performance Training Center and is the national team training headquarters for the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF).  The David Beckham Academy for youth soccer, Andre Agassi's Safe Passage All-Stars at-risk youth tennis program and Athletes' Performance's training center for elite and professional athletes are all based at The Home Depot Center.  The Home Depot Center has additionally been designated official training sites for USA Cycling and USA Track & Field.  For more information, please visit www.homedepotcenter.com.