Patty, Alizé, Agnes Head to Budapest

The brief grass court season is but a memory as the stars of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour return to the red stuff this week at the GDF SUEZ Grand Prix.

Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder has been granted a wild card and on a ranking of No.22 is the top seed at the $220,000 International Series event. Three of the 30-year-old's 11 Tour titles have been won on clay, but they all came way back in 1998, so she'll be keen to do something about that on the banks of the Danube. With a great run to the semis at Madrid under her belt, she has shown vintage form of late, but nonetheless faces plenty of youthful talent.

Chief among the contenders is defending champion Alizé Cornet, who won her first Tour title here last year, as part of a season that saw her rise into the Top 15. So far, 2009 has proven to be a tough follow-up for the 19-year-old, who didn't advance past the second round at any of the events during the main clay court season, and is also 0-4 in Fed Cup matches this year. Still, clay is her favorite surface and this week should offer an opportunity to rebuild confidence ahead of the US Open Series in a month or so.

Austrian lefty Sybille Bammer is the third seed but faces a tough opener against Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, while hometown heroine Agnes Szavay is seeded fourth. Twelve months ago Szavay was bundled out of this tournament in the first round, but the 20-year-old has been in resurgent form of late and no doubt extra motivated to put on a good show this time.

Russia's Alisa Kleybanova will be hunting her maiden Tour title as the No.5 seed, while Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko, who was runner-up at Warsaw in May, is seeded sixth. Italian Sara Errani, who won back-to-back titles at Palermo and Portoroz last July, is the No.7 seed and Czech Lucie Safarova is seeded eighth.

As well as Schnyder, wildcards have been granted to Hungarian players Greta Arn and Katalin Marosi, while Szavay's younger sister Blanka remains in contention in the qualifying rounds.

Kleybanova and Romania's Monica Niculescu are the top seeds in the doubles, with Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko the No.2 seeds. Another sister act, the Szavays, have been given a wildcard.