Notes: Five of the Top 10 in New Haven this week…Lots of floating talent…The Top 2 seeds receive opening-round byes…Potential tough starts for (8) Errani vs. Mladenovic, (6) Bacsinszky vs. Garcia, the slumping (7) Radwanska vs. the booming Vandeweghe, and (2) Kvitova vs. Keys…Wildcards were awarded to Wozniacki, Radwanska, Alison Riske and Lucie Safarova…Withdrawing from the event were Belinda Bencic, Ekaterina Makarova and Sloane Stephens…

Tough starts for (1) Venus in the 2nd rd. vs. the Bastad runner-up Barthel, (4) Cornet vs. Wickmayer, (5) Giorgi vs. Cibulkova, and (2) Svitolina vs. Rybarikova…Veterans Daniela Hantuchova and Francesca Schiavone also floating around…Wildcards went to Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay and Ipek Soylu, and the No. 4 seed Cornet…Pulling from the event were Belinda Bencic, Alexandra Dulgheru, Kristina Mladenovic, Monica Niculescu and Flavia Pennetta…Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki beat No. 2 Roberta Vinci in last year’s final…Pavlyuchenkova (2010) is the lone returning former champ in the field.

Jerzy Janowicz let his opponent know he wasn’t happy.

Kei Nishikoi beat Santiago Giraldo in last year’s final…Returning former champs in the final are Nishikori (2014), Nadal (2013-11,’09-05), Verdasco (2010) and Robredo (2004).

Tough starts for the struggling (6) Cibulkova vs. Flipkens, and (3) Ivanovic after a bye vs. Azarenka…Four former No. 1 players in the field…Wildcards went to Swiss Belinda Bencic, Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm, and German Sabine Lisicki…

According to the WTA, the world No. 4 Kvitova, along with the No. 2 Simona Halep, will have a chance to wrestle the world No. 1 ranking away from Serena Williams at the US Open.

The hodgepodge of seeds includes a former world No. 1 and Wimbledon champ and this year’s Wimbledon men’s doubles winner…Interesting starts for (7) Sock vs. the veteran Kuznetsov and the struggling (2) Karlovic vs. Ginepri…

Novak Djokovic nearly tumbled out of Wimbledon today.

Notes: Eight-time winner Rafael Nadal heads the field, and after a bye likely starts against Davydenko…(14) Marcel Granollers after a bye likely starts against The Worm…Wildcards went to Argentine Facundo Arguelleo, and Spaniards Roberto Carballes Baena, Inigo Cervantes, Daniel Gimeno-Traver…Withdrawing from the event were Pablo Andujar, Federico Delbonis, Richard Gasquet, Ivo Karlovic and Juan Monaco…David Ferrer is 0-4 in Barcelona finals…Fabio Fognini has never won a match in Barcelona (0-4)…Nadal beat Almagro in last year’s all-Spanish final…The two-time champ Bryan brothers are the top seeds in the doubles…Former singles champs in the field are Nadal (2013-11,’09-05), Robredo (2004), and Verdasco (2010).

Notes: Sam Stosur still injured?…Tough draws for (3) Vesnina against the Puerto Rican riser Puig, and (5) Pennetta against the former No. 1 Venus…Venus on the small-tournament guarantee-cash circuit this year?…Wildcards went to Aussies Casey Dellacqua, Olivia Rogowska and Storm Sanders…Storm Sanders is an awesome sports name, period…Pulling from the tournament were Nadia Petrova, Ashleigh Barty and Stefanie Voegele…Vesnina in last year’s final beat Barthel…Returning former champs in the field are Vesnina (2013), Barthel (2012), and Jie Zheng (2005).

Sean Randall previews the 2014 season and makes his Grand Slam predictions.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal both advanced in straight sets Wednesday in Paris.

Notes: The final tournament of the year before the year-end championships…Three berths remain at the year-end championships with five players (as of Saturday) still in the running: Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic…Federer will according to the ATP lock up a spot if he wins the Swiss Open on Sunday…The Top 8 seeds receive first-round byes…Tough starts for (1) Nadal possibly starting against the indoor upset specialist Tursunov, (9) Gasquet vs. the Gulbis-Verdasco winner, (6) Berdych vs. the Monfils-Pospisil winner, (16) Fognini vs. the Llodra-Dimitrov winner, and (4) Del Potro possibly starting against the drug-cleared Cilic…Ferrer beat Janowicz in last year’s final…Nadal is trying to become the first player to win six Masters titles in the same year…Djokovic has won his last two titles entering the event…Returning former champs in the field are Ferrer (2012), Federer (2011), Djokovic (2009), Tsonga (2008), and Berdych (2005).

Roger Federer finally gets a first-hand look at his mirror image Grigor Dimitrov tomorrow in Basel.

Controversy came with the end of the season as Kerber received a late wildcard for the Linz tournament, which she won, allowing her to edge Wozniacki for a Top 8 spot. “I do not understand that (the WTA) can suddenly change the draw and allocation of wildcards that way,” Wozniacki said. “There are many things that have been done in an unsportsmanlike and unethical manner. And you can hear from other players. They think it’s so ridiculous.”…