Britain's Simon Baker and South African Michael Thompson, both of whom got through several rounds at SW19, have entered the Rye Tournament which begins today.

Rye LTC director of tennis Nick Moy said: "This underlines Rye LTC's pledge to promote under-18 tennis in the South-East."

A strong international presence for the four-day Open Tournament is guaranteed, including all of the 2007 men's singles semi-finalists who come from New Zealand, Germany, Holland and Italy.

Entries have also been received from Austria, France, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Spain and Russia.

Moreover, there have been entries from the leading clubs in the UK, including the All England LTC (Wimbledon), Queen's Club, Roehampton Club, the Lansdowne Club and the Hurlingham Club.

The finals of the men's and ladies' singles will take place on Monday from 2pm. These will be followed by the finals of the other events.

Rye International Tennis Festival schedule: today (Friday)-Monday annual open tournament, Tuesday two generations tournament, Wednesday-next Friday junior tournament, next Saturday closed tournament, next Sunday mixed doubles tournament.

NAMES TO LOOK OUT FOR

Men:
Jan Menneken (ITF player from Germany and defending Rye men's singles champion)
Alex Soeters (Dutch international and runner-up in the 2007 Rye men's singles)
Remco Lambers (Dutch international making his first appearance at Rye)
Tony, Jane and Richard Henman (father, mother and brother of former British number one Tim)
Mark Hadley (New Zealand international and Rye men's singles champion in 2004 and 2005)
Peter Dowdeswell (son of former British international and Davis Cup player Colin Dowdeswell)
Chris Gorringe (recently chief executive of the All England LTC, Wimbledon)
Alex and Dominic Titchener-Barrett (reigning men's doubles champions at the Hurlingham Club)

Ladies:
Arabella Martin (Surrey county and Rye ladies' singles champion in 2002 and 2004)
Zoe Taylor (Queen's Club number one and daughter of ex-British Davis Cup captain Roger Taylor)
Anna Gorringe (daughter of Chris Gorringe and 1996 Rye ladies' singles champion)
Sarah Bentley (former British international and Wimbledon player)
Kim Levine (daughter of Chris Gorringe and Rye ladies' singles champion in 1998).