|
Top Seeds Face Qualifiers
The two top seeds at the 2006 Heineken Open will face qualifiers after the release of the main singles draw revealed that Chile's Fernando Gonzalez at No11 in the world and Spain's David Ferrer will have to wait until Monday afternoon to know who they play.
Kiwi wildcards Dan King-Turner and Mark Nielsen have mixed draws.
Nielsen faces Croatian Davis Cup hero Mario Ancic who is ranked at 25 in the world while King-Turner in his first main draw match plays No75 Florian Mayer of Germany.
"Obviously he's (Ancic) is a big guy with a big game. I played him in doubles before and have watched him grow up. He's had success lately with Davis Cup. You don't know if he's going to play up or down," says Nielsen.
Other interesting first round matchups feature former champ and fourth seed Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia up against the current Olympic champ, Nicolas Massu.
Last years runner-up Olivier Rochus who is now inside the top 30 rankings plays Spain's Albert Montanes.
Third seed and 2005 US Open semifinalist Robbie Ginepri plays another Spaniard, Alberto Martin while seventh seed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland faces talented Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.
There was some disappointment with the draw as it was revealed that Australia wildcard Mark Philippoussis had withdraw following a back injury while playing doubles in Adelaide.
The wildcard allocated to Philippoussis will now fall to a lucky loser from the qualifying.
In the doubles top seeds are Swede Simon Aspelin and Australian Todd Perry who were beaten finalists in 2005.
Wildcards have gone to the Kiwis pairings Dan King-Turner and Mark Nielse who play the Swiss pair of Yves Allegro and Stanislas Wawrinka.
While Rubin Statham and Adam Thompson face second seeds Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Wesley Moodie from South Africa.
Meanwhile one New Zealander out of six has survived the first round of qualifying at the Heineken Open.
Davis Cup player Adam Thompson is the lone player in the second round after a 6-0 6-0 win over a Spaniard Antonio Do Santiago-Macanas.
He now faces Italian Federico Luzzi in the second round. Luzzi is a top 150 ranked player.
The next best of the Kiwis was William Ward who won seven games in his defeat by Frenchman Gregory Carraz, a former top 60 player. The other Kiwis, Rade Radinovich, Rubin Statham, Willam Ward, James Pilbro and Martin Colenbrander all lost in straight sets.
Thompson will be on court at the More FM Tennis Park at 9am, Sunday.
Main draw play starts at 11am on Monday with the singles and doubles final at 1pm on Saturday 14 January
|
