David Ferrer will lead next year’s Heineken Open field in Auckland
Next year’s Heineken Open highlighting the Panasonic Singles and Doubles promises to be another blockbuster competition with an abundance of new talent, experience and crowd pleasers. A total of two former winners and the defending
champion lead the nineteen man field.
David Ferrer, who is currently ranked number seven in the South African Airways ATP list, is the top seed to win the title. He previously picked up the crown back in 2007. He will play his first tournament since appearing at the
season finale Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. The professional tennis ace from Spain along with his countrymen Albert Montanes captured two ATP singles trophies each this season. Juan Carlos Ferrero, another Spaniard, took away three titles in 2010.
The second seed is last year’s winner, John Isner, who also set his name in the annals of history by playing the lengthiest professional tennis match at Wimbledon. Isner is currently ranked number nineteen in the world.
The six foot nine inch tall Isner, won the 2010 Heineken Open in dramatic fashion after getting the better of his French opponent, Arnaud Clement, for his first and only career title on the tour. The right hander has been a defeated
finalist in three other competitions in 2011; Memphis, Atlanta and Belgrade apart from playing the momentous eleven hours and five minutes clash at the All England Club.
Seeded third to win the title next year is the world number twenty five, Albert Montanes who had a remarkable season, starting with a semi-final run at the Heineken Open followed by two title victories at Estroil and Stuttgart.
He captured the Estroil title after hammering down Roger Federer in the semifinal round.
The Argentinean tennis ace, Juan Monaco is the fourth seeded player, who is currently ranked number twenty six on the ATP tour. His season highlights include a runner up effort in Santiago, semi final appearances in Buenos Aires,
Acapulco, Shanghai and quarterfinal showing at the Indian Wells Masters Series. Monaco will be taking part at the Heineken Open on the sixth occasion in his career.
David Nalbandian, will also be another seeded contender with a current ATP world ranking of number twenty seven on the tour. The former world number three from Argentine, who was also a runner-up at the grass court Grand Slam tournament
back in 2002, has eleven singles crowns to his credit, including his Washington victory in 2010.
The sixth seed is David Ferrero, who was also a runner-up at the Heineken Open back in 2008. He has so far won a total of three crowns this season at Costa Do Sauipe, Acapulco and Umag and was a runner-up at another competition.
Thomas Bellucci and Philipp Kohlschreiber are the seventh and eight seeded players respectively with Bellucci winning a single title this year in Santiago whereas Kohlschreiber also had an extremely consistent season advancing
into a total of two semifinal rounds, one of them being at the Heineken Open back in January.
The director of the tournament, Richard Palmer while commenting on the upcoming event said, “The 2011 Heineken Open looks set to become another great event with plenty of quality, talent and depth. To have the eight seeds within
the top thirty four rankings and a cut off of sixty four just shows that there will be quality tennis at the tournament. It is also great to have a couple of new faces.”
The competition will be held from January 10th -15th at the ASB Tennis Centre in Auckland.
Tags: