The inaugural Shanghai ATP 1000 Masters was awarded the ATP Masters 1000 Tournament of the year for 2009 with ATP International CEO Brad Drewett presenting the trophy to tournament organizers yesterday at the Hilton Shanghai hotel in Jing'An District.

The award is voted on by ATP players. Shanghai beat out Masters Series events in Monte Carlo, Montreal and Cincinnati for the award.

The Shanghai event was the only Masters 1000 tournament hosted by an Asian city.

"We hosted the Tennis Masters Cup for several years, but to host a full tournament took a great team and a lot of hard work," said tournament director Michael Luevano. "We had a lot of dreams for our new event and we did all we could to make those a reality."

Shanghai Masters reigning champion, world No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko, congratulated organizers in a video.

"I knew it," he said. "I was there and won the event. It was a very good week for the players and everyone had a good time in Shanghai."

Davydenko defeated Rafael Nadal 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the final for one of his five titles last year.

Shanghai first hosted an ATP tournament in 1998 with the Heineken Open. The city hosted the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup five times from 2002 to 2008.

Meanwhile, Rolex announced yesterday that it will upgrade its sponsorship to become the title sponsor of the Shanghai event. The 2010 tournament will be called the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

(Shanghai Daily March 17, 2010)