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Rea Gets Heineken Open Main Draw
Wildcard
New Zealand tennis player Simon Rea has been given a late
Christmas present with a main draw wildcard for the 2004
Heineken Open being awarded to the 21 year-old left-hander.
Rea who currently attends the University of Tennessee
on a tennis scholarship has an ATP singles entry ranking
of 823 at present with his best results in pro tournaments
in 2003 when he reached the quarter-finals of two Futures
events in the United States.
For Rea the wildcard will be his second into the Vodafone
singles main draw. At the 2003 Heineken Open Rea was beaten
by former champ Dominik Hrbaty 6-4 6-2. Hrbaty eventually
went on to reach the final before losing to Gustavo Kuerten.
"I'm grateful to Auckland Tennis and hopefully I
can handle the atmosphere and pressure on centre court
better this time around. I've been working hard training
on court four to five hours a day since the end of the
Residentials," said Rea.
Tournament Director Graham Pearce believes that Rea has
a chance to really make an impression at the 2004 Heineken
Open. "The main draw wildcard is an opportunity for
a player to progress their career. Simon is finishing
college in the first half of 2004 in the United States
and a place in the Vodafone singles at the 2004 Heineken
Open gives him the opportunity to improve his ranking
and get his pro career underway," said Graham Pearce.
Four wildcard places for the qualifying have also been
announced with experienced Mark Nielsen, national 18's
champion GD Jones, Auckland's Adam Thompson and Residentials
finalist Dan King-Turner receiving wildcards.
The Heineken Open featuring the Vodafone singles and
doubles will be held January 12-17. Qualifying rounds
will be held at the ASB BANK Tennis Centre January 10-11.
Top players confirmed for the 2004 Heineken Open include
world No. 5 Guillermo Coria of Argentina, No. 12 and former
champ Jiri Novak, current champion and No. 15 Gustavo
Kuerten, world No. 17 and former champion Sjeng Schalken,
2003 beaten finalist and 2001 champion Slovak, Dominik
Hrbaty plus former world No. 4 American, Todd Martin.
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