This is the first time an Asian city has hosted the year-ending tennis championship. The tournament was held in Lisbon and Sydney in the previous two years, respectively.

Speaking at a reception for the media covering the championship in the city yesterday, Lawrence Scott, chief operational officer of Association of Tennis Professionals expressed his full confidence in the success of the event.

"We have visited the facilities, from the media facilities to the stadiums and the courts," said Scott. "And I can tell you that this year's Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai 2002 has the making of being the best tennis cup ever."

The tournament will be held in the fifth hall of the Shanghai New International Expo Center in Pudong, which has been fit to seat about 10,000 spectators.

In order to host the event, Shanghai has invested US$13 million, including prizes for the players and operational fees.

About US$3.5 million will be raised through ticket sales while sponsorships and broadcast right sales should cover the rest of the costs.

The six-day event has attracted nearly 300 journalists from around the world, including 147 from overseas and will be broadcast to more than 130 countries and regions.

The eight top players on the men's tour will begin round-robin play today, with the top two players from each pool moving on to the semi-finals on Saturday. The finals will be played on Sunday.

Marat Safin is too far behind Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt to finish the season ranked No.1 following this week's event, but that doesn't mean he won't be playing to win.

"My motivation is to win the Masters Cup," the Russian told reporters yesterday afternoon during a press conference to publicize today's start of the event.

Hewitt, Safin, Carlos Moya and Albert Costa will face each other in the Red Group while Agassi, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Roger Federer and Jiri Novak are in Gold Group.

Hewitt and Agassi are the only two players left in the hunt for the No.1 ranking, but all eight competitors are in the running for a massive paycheck at the event, which features US$3.7 million in prize money.

Currently, Hewitt leads the pack with 767 points, 88 clear of Agassi. Players get points at the event for every victory, with an undefeated run worth 150 points, and the champion picking up US$1.52 million.

Both Hewitt and Agassi played down the title clash yesterday.

"I will try to get through the group round-robin first," said Hewitt.

The 21-year-old Australian won the event last year in Sydney. Agassi said his goal is simply to play well.

"Every time I'm on the court, I want to play great tennis. That's motivation," he said.

The players were decked out in traditional Tang jackets for the press conference yesterday.

The tournament starts this afternoon with a clash between Safin and Spaniard Carlos Moya.

(Eastday.com November 12, 2002)