Canas Withdraws With Injury
Heineken Open second seed and world No15 Guillermo Canas of Argentina has withdrawn from the Heineken Open as a result of tendonitis in his wrist. He is likely to be sidelined for several months.
The Top 20 player was to return to Sovereign singles at the Heineken Open after an eight-year absence and a 12 months which saw him beat Roger Federer in successive weeks on hard court.
The 30-year-old Canas started 2007 in good fashion with a title at the Costa Do Sauipe tournament in Brazil accounting for Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final.
At the Masters Series event in Miami in March Canas pulled off a string of quality victories beating all former or current top-10 players Tim Henman, Ferrero, Richard Gasquet, Federer, Tommy Robredo in the quarters, Ivan Ljubicic in the semis before finally falling to Novak Djokovic in the final.
The previous week Canas had beaten Federer in the second round of the Masters Series event at Indian Wells.
He continued his run of good form by reaching the final of Barcelona (lost to Rafael Nadal) and also had a quarter-final run at Roland Garros.
In other highlights to his 2007 year Canas made the semis at both Umag and Metz.
A former ATP Comeback Player of the Year in 2001 he reached a career high ranking of No8 in June 2005 and is coached by countryman Gaston Etlis who played in the Heineken Open 2004-06 in doubles.
He has seven career singles titles and has been a finalist on nine occasions with the biggest title being won at the Masters Series tournament in Toronto in 2002.
The Heineken Open featuring the Sovereign singles and doubles will be held at the ASB Tennis Centre, January 7 – 12, 2008 with the first two days of qualifying January 5 – 6, 2008 at the Albany Tennis Park, Oteha Valley Road, Albany starting at 10am each day.
The 2008 tournament will feature live scoring as well as live streaming of play.
