Kiwis Gain Heineken Open Qualifying Wildcards
All four wildcards for January's 2007 Heineken Open featuring the Sovereign singles and doubles have been awarded to New Zealand players.
Rubin Statham, Adam Thompson, Matt Simpson and Oliver Statham will all gain positions in the qualifying as a result of the wildcard positions where they will potentially face players ranked inside the world’s top-100.
Twenty-four-year-old Thompson recently won the Fuji Xerox Auckland Champs and the Pascoes The Jewellers New Zealand Residential title and has an ATP ranking of 1281.
Despite not playing events in the later part of the year Thompson scored one quarterfinal singles result at Futures level as well as one doubles title and two semis doubles finishes and a quarterfinal run at the Hawaiian Challenger.
Rubin Statham, 19 has an ATP ranking of 862 after reaching the quarters at three Futures events in 2006 while twin brother Oliver is 1424. The pair combined to make two Futures doubles finals during the year.
Matt Simpson, 22 the son of former pro and former Davis Cup captain Jeff Simpson gained his first ranking points during the year while in Egypt. He is 1374.
Qualifying matches are free for the public to watch and are played at the More FM Tennis Park, Albany, Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 January starting at 10am each day.
Top ranked players in the Heineken Open main draw include No7 Tommy Robredo of Spain, Mario Ancic from Croatia the 2006 finalists and current No9, current champion, Jarkko Nieminen of Finland who is ranked at 15 and former world No1 Juan Carlos Ferrero at No23.
The Heineken Open featuring the Sovereign singles and doubles will be held at the ASB Tennis Centre, No1 Tennis Lane, Parnell January Monday 8 – Saturday 13, 2007 with qualifying January Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 at the More FM Tennis Park, Albany.
Tickets are on sale now through Ticketek and at the ASB Tennis Centre and are selling quickly.
For more details please contact:
Graham Pearce – Heineken Open tournament director – 021 675 005
Or
Dave Worsley – Heineken Open media manager – 021 365 224
