BEIJING - Tennis in China is not all about global stars fighting it out head-to-head in Beijing and Shanghai every October.

That month also provides a time to scrutinize the nation's young players as they assemble to display their skills at the "Mercedes-Benz Cup" China Tennis Grand Prix at the Nanjing Olympic Tennis Center.

The biggest annual domestic tournament, the Nanjing event, has attracted a group of 20 young players to fight for the men's and women's titles at the 32-draw challenger competition from Tuesday to Wednesday.

The top 10 finishers on each side will earn berths to battle some of China's top players, including Grand Slam doubles champion Zheng Jie and leading male Zhang Ze, at the 16-seed championship phase from Oct 27-30 for total prize money of $150,000.

Without the nervousness of facing big stars at the China Open and Shanghai Masters, the young players will be able to hone their skills in the Eastern China city.

"Compared to foreign players at the same age, we lag behind due to a lack of experience. Here we can concentrate on ourselves and improve our skills and learn our shortcomings," said male player Wu Di, who failed to qualify for the main draw at the Shanghai ATP 1000 event.

"Limited by our low rankings, we can hardly play any decent tournaments abroad. So we have to count on local events to fix our deficiencies," said world No 397 player Gong Maoxin.

The main interest at the event will be seeing who is the female to follow in the footsteps of French Open champion Li Na.

The country's second highest ranked woman, Zheng, looks the most likely, and the veteran has vowed to improve her mental toughness at the Nanjing tournament.

Zheng, the winner of the 2006 Australian and Wimbledon doubles championships, has improved her singles ranking to a high of No 48 after storming into the semifinals of the WTA HP Japan Open in Osaka on Oct 16.

"My WTA season is over this year. My lack of concentration played a part in my loss in Osaka. I have to improve it at the Grand Prix and the winter training camp," Zheng said on her micro-blog after losing to US Open winner Samantha Stosur in the semis in Japan.

In addition to the competitions, the Nanjing tournament will also feature a week-long series of charity activities, campus promotions and youth clinics.

China Daily