Best Field Ever For 2002 Heineken Open

MEDIA RELEASE 28 November, 2001

BEST FIELD EVER FOR 2002 HEINEKEN OPEN

With an entry ranking cut-off of 63 the 2002 Heineken Open 2002, featuring the Vodafone singles and doubles will have the best field ever.

The last direct entry out of the 23 players announced today is Austria's Stefan Koubek who was a quarterfinalist at Auckland this year.

Other notable inclusions are four former or current champions. Jonas Bjorkman who won the singles title at the tournament in 1997 join 1996 winner, Jiri Novak, plus Sjeng Schalken the 1999 champion along with defending champ Dominik Hrbaty.

Bjorkman finished 2001 as the joint world number one doubles player with partner Todd Woodbridge winning the Australian Open plus four other tournaments together.

One of the many young players to watch carefully in the acceptance list is Finland's, Jarkko Nieminen who in only his second ATP event made the final of Stockholm, beating Thomas Enqvist in the semifinals before losing to Schalken in the final.

The 20 year old finished 2000 ranked 308th and is now 61st after his stunning results throughout the year.

The strong Argentine contingent is returning with David Nalbandian, Gaston Gaudio, Mariano Zabaleta and this year's Heineken Open top seed Franco Squillari all in the main draw.

The qualifying list has some well-known names entered with Cedric Pioiline, Juan Balcells, Karol Kucera and Sergi Bruguera all intent on making the main draw of the tournament.

Tournament Director Graham Pearce said "It's terrific to have confirmed that this is the best Heineken Open filed ever and Aucklanders can look forward to a great week of tennis."

The Heineken Open featuring the Vodafone singles and doubles will be held at the ASB BANK Tennis Centre in Auckland from January 7-12, 2002.

Players Officially Entered In The 2002 Heineken Open.

Entry System Rankings as of 26/11/2001

1 Marat Safin (Russia) 11

2 Goran Ivanisevic (Croatia) 12

3 Jan-Michael Gambill (USA) 21

4 Sjeng Schalken (Netherlands) 26

5 Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) 29

6 Greg Rusedski (Great Britain) 31

7 Andreas Vinciguerra (Sweden) 33

8 Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 36

9 Felix Mantilla (Spain) 45

10 Michel Kratochvil (Switzerland) 46

11 David Nalbandian (Argentina) 47

12 Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) 48

13 Jerome Golmard (France) 50

14 Francisco Clavet (Spain) 51

15 Fernando Vicente (Spain) 52

16 Andrea Gaudenzi (Italy) 54

17 Franco Squillari (Argentina) 55

18 Galo Blanco (Italy) 56

19 Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 58

20 Mariano Zabaleta (Argentina) 59

21Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 60

22 Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 61

23 Stefan Koubek (Austria) 63

Qualifiers 4

Wild Cards 3

Special Exempts 2

For more information please contact:

Graham Pearce

Heineken Open Tournament Director

3733 623 or mobile 021 675 005

Or Dave Worsley - Media Manager

021 679 096

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