Big Improver to Hit 2008 Heineken Open
From Qualifying to Title Contender
From playing the qualifying at the 2007 Heineken Open featuring the Sovereign singles and doubles to being a title contender for the 2008 event, Argentina’s Juan Monaco has come a long way in a short space of time.
A three-time title winner in 2007 Monaco, 23 proved to be an underrated player who was able to catch many higher ranked opponents by surprise.
Ranked at 71st at the 2007 Heineken Open he won through qualifying, beat Kiwi, Dan King-Turner in the first round then defeated former finalists Olivier Rochus in three sets. He eventually lost to Augustin Calleri in three sets in the quarters.
At the Costa Do Sauipe tournament in Brazil he reached the quarters, before winning at Buenos Aires for his first career singles title beating Italian Alessio Di Mauro in the final.
Other top results came at Houston where he made the quarters and also at Estoril before he claimed his second title at Poertschach, Austria accounting for Nikolay Davydenko in the quarters and Gael Monfils in the final.
Austria proved to be a great hunting ground for the Argentine when he scored his third title by winning at Kitzbuhel defeating Italian Potito Starace in the final.
In total for the year there were three titles, six quarter-final appearances plus wins over players of the calibre of Rafael Nadal and Tommy Haas and reached a career-high singles ranking of 19 in September 2007.
“Juan has proved in 2007 that he is a real challenger for the Sovereign singles title at the Heineken Open. There’s not many players who can go from qualifying to a potential seeding position in under 12 months.
“He won three ATP singles titles in 2007 and beat some top players proving that he has the potential to go even higher than his current ranking and is a real prospect for the future,” says Heineken Open tournament director, Graham Pearce.
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.
