Tennis Update: Nicolas Almagro confirms participation at Auckland
The fifth event in the ATP regular season and an immediate predecessor to the Australian Open, the ATP 250 event at Auckland received its latest confirmed participation today. Ranked fifteen in the world, Spaniard Nicolas Almagro
confirmed his participation at the 2011 Heineken Open today.
The Heineken Open featuring the Panasonic Singles and Doubles will be held at the ASB Tennis Centre, January 10-15 with the first two days of qualifying from January 8-9 at the Albany Tennis Park.
Almagro received a wild card entry into the main draw after requesting the management for participation. This will be the Spaniard’s fifth appearance at the event. His event best came in 2009 when he made it all the way to the
quarterfinals. In 2010, Almagro was seeded fourth in the event. His exit from the event was forced by Marc Gicquel after the latter defeated Almagro in straight sets of 6-0, 6-3.
Almagro will be seeded second into the event following compatriot and world number seven David Ferrer as the top seed. Defending champion John Isner will be seeded third into the event while another of Almagro’s compatriot Albert
Montanes will be seeded fourth.
Commenting on Almagro’s participation, tournament director Richard Palmer said, “Almagro is an undeniable talent who is one of the hardest hitters in the world. His results in 2010 speak for themselves. Winning two tournaments
and making the quarters at Roland Garros is pretty impressive. The fact he is No15 in the world shows that he is a top player. He adds even more depth to an already classy player list for 2011,”
Almagro finished his 2010 season ranked 12th in the ATP rankings. Registering a win-loss mark of 44-26, Almagro bagged titles at two events in the year. He defeated Robin Soderling at Bastad and then Richard Gasquet
at Gstaad to win titles at these two events. Almagro also made his way into the quarterfinals of the 2010 Roland Garros. This was his season best at any Grand Slam event.
Almagro's participation brings the participants total to nineteen. The complete list will be released in the beginning of January.
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