Potito Starace won a Challenger Tour title in San Marino in August 2011, following a semifinal effort in Santiago and a final in Casablanca earlier in the year.

The Italian was ranked in the top 50 in 2007 and 2010, having reached finals in Valencia and Kitzbuhel in 2007, and a final in Lugano in 2010.

Starace played in Auckland in 2005 and 2007, making the quarterfinals in 2005.

The 30-year-old has been a professional since 2001 and has collected more than $US3 million in prize money.