By Michael Perry
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Organizers of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters have been trying to bring women's professional tennis back to Cincinnati since 1988.

It appears as though it is finally going to happen.

The Croatian Bol Ladies Open, which has been held in Bol, Croatia, will likely be sold, moved to Cincinnati and held at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason in August 2004.

Croatian Bol tournament director Antun Plenkovic told Reuters News Service that because of financial problems, "the tournament will next year be played in Cincinnati."

Western & Southern Masters and Women's Tennis Association Tour officials say it's not a done deal yet. There are two minor holdups:

• The WTA Tour, which has already discussed the change and tentatively approved it, has to ratify its 2004 calendar. The tour's board of directors meets today in London, where Wimbledon is taking place.

• Octagon management group and Tennis for Charity, Inc., which operates the Western & Southern Masters, have to work out details regarding ownership of the event. In April 2002, Western & Southern Masters became partners with Octagon, which represents tennis players such as Lleyton Hewitt, Michael Chang, Todd Martin, Gustavo Kuerten and Anna Kournikova and owns WTA Tour tournaments.

"I certainly think it's going to happen," Western & Southern Masters tournament director Bruce Flory said Thursday. "Everybody's going in that direction. We need to come to a resolution with Octagon of how we're going to work together. They would like to have an interest in the men's event, as well.

"It'd be nice if in the next 30 to 60 days we'd have it done. We've come far enough that there will be a lot of people disappointed if it didn't come through."

The Croatia tournament is classified as Tier III, which typically has a 30-person draw and features one top-10 player or three top-20 players. It also has a minimum of $170,000 in prize money. However, draw size, player field and prize money for an event in Cincinnati have not been worked out.

The Western & Southern Masters, one of the top 13 men's tournaments in the world, is a mandatory event for top-ranked players and this year will award $2.45 million in prize money.

The long-term goal for local officials is to have men's and women's events held at the same time, similar to Grand Slam tournaments.

"But we don't want to get ahead of ourselves," Flory said.

Among the players who have competed in Tier III events this year: No. 13-ranked Conchita Martinez, No. 15 Amanda Coetzer and No. 18 Monica Seles.

The provisional dates for 2004 tournaments here are Aug. 16-22 for the women and Aug. 2-8 for the men, said Phil Smith, W&S Masters spokesman. However, he added, neither the WTA Tour nor ATP Tour has approved those dates.

The 2004 women's event would take place during the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, and it would likely wind up in July starting in 2005, Smith said.

Darrell Fry, director of corporate communication for the WTA Tour, confirmed there has been talk about the Bol tourney moving to Cincinnati, but he said, "Nothing's come of it so far. ... It's not done until the tour says it's done."

Cincinnati hosted to women's tournament tennis from 1899-1973. In 1988, the Pringles Light Classic was held in Mason, but tournament officials found out before the event that it would not be added to the WTA Tour calendar.

E-mail mperry@enquirer.com