Montanes takes last Madrid wildcard after Ferrero sulk

MADRID (Reuters) - Spaniard Albert Montanes has been awarded the third and final wildcard for the Madrid Masters along with Russian Marat Safin and Italian Fabio Fognini, the tournament organizers said on Saturday.

Spain's Carlos Moya, who had originally been nominated as one of the three wildcards, automatically qualified due to withdrawals, freeing up another slot.

But local favorite and former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero had already ruled himself out of the running. The 2003 Madrid Masters champion, currently ranked 44th in the world, was angry at being overlooked for one of the original three places.

"He was a little hasty. He could have entered the draw," tournament director Manolo Santana told reporters.

A number of players, including compatriots Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer, have come out in support of Ferrero saying that it was wrong that a Spaniard of his caliber was overlooked, but Santana defended the decision.

"Moya won a popular vote and was four places off qualifying on his own merits, and in the end entered because of withdrawals," he added.

"This is an international tournament. It is a business and the business has the right to take decisions be they right or wrong. It's a shame because we would have liked him to have played.

"Ferrero said he would not play even if we offered him an invitation so we gave it to Montanes who is the Spaniard just below him in the rankings."

The tournament runs from Oct 13-19.

(Writing by Mark Elkington; editing by Pritha Sarkar)