Monte Carlo, Charleston, and Barcelona

The men have their third Masters 1000 series event, the optional Monte Carlo event.  The women have their first WTA premier clay event in Charleston, SC, as well as an International series event in Barcelona.

Rafael Nadal is the 5-time defending champion at Monte Carlo, and he goes for an unprecedented sixth straight title.

Sabine Lisicki is the defending champion at Charleston, but she has withdrawn due to her ankle injury.

Roberta Vinci, believe it or not, is the defending champion at Barcelona.

Novak Djokovic, Caroline Wozniacki, and Maria Kirilenko were last year's runners-up.

The semifinalists were Andy Murray, Stanislas Wawrinka, Elena Dementieva, Marion Bartoli, Carla Suarez Navarro, and Francesca Schiavone.

The quarterfinalists included Beck, Davydenko, Ljubicic, and Verdasco; Cibulkova, Czink, Razzano, and Vesnina; Malek, Martinez Sanchez, Safarova, and Yakimova.

Of these players, Davydenko, Cibulkova, Dementieva, Malek, and Yakimova are not playing this week.

Finally, these are the seeded players this week with last year's results in parentheses:

Monte Carlo:  1) Djokovic (Final), 2) Nadal (Champion), 3) Murray (SF), 4) Cilic, 5) Tsonga, 6) Verdasco (QF), 7) Youzhny, 8) Ljubicic (QF), 9) Ferrero, 10) Berdych, 11) Ferrer, 12) Robredo, 13) Wawrinka (SF), 14) Monaco, 15) Melzer, 16) Baghdatis

Charleston:  1) Wozniacki (Final), 2) Jankovic, 3) Azarenka, 4) Stosur, 5) Bartoli (SF), 6) Petrova, 7) Zvonareva, 8) Hantuchova, 9) A.Bondarenko, 10) Vesnina (QF), 11) Razzano (QF), 12) Wozniak, 13) Oudin, 14) Dushevina, 15) Czink (QF), 16) Schynder

Barcelona:  1) Schiavone (SF), 2) Rezai, 3) Martinez Sanchez (QF), 4) Kirilenko (Final), 5) Cirstea, 6) Dulko, 7) Suarez Navarro (SF), 8) Safarova (QF)

If anyone has comments on the formats of these posts, please let me know.