David Ferrer, Ernests Gulbis, Tommy Robredo And Others Join Heineken Open Line-up Next Year
The 2015 Heineken Open is expected to be star-studded and will feature seven of the top 20 players. Four-time champion David Ferrer, world no. 15 Roberto Bautista Agut, this year's finalist Yen-Hsun Lu, eight seed Santiago Giraldo, Steve Johnson, Guilermo Garcia-Lopez, Jack Sock, Ernests Gulbis, Tommy Robrero, Kevin Anderson, John Isner, Dominic Thiem and Gael Monfils will grace the event that will be held in Auckland in January.
"To have seven players inside the world's top 20 is an amazing feat, I'm not sure we will replicate this in a hurry," tournament director Karl Budge said according to TVNZ. "It is such a varying field with some big servers, some of the better returners and the most promising talent on tour."
With the current ticket sales, it appears that a new grandstand will be erected for the event, which will house an additional 200 seats. According to Budge, there is a demand for a new stand with greater capacity.
List of seeded players for the Heineken Open 2015
1. David Ferrer
2. Ernests Gulbis
3. Roberto Bautista Agut
4. Kevin Anderson
5. Tommy Robredo
6. Gael Monfils
7. John Isner
8. Santiago Giraldo
Heineken Open 2015 Full Field
David Ferrer / ESP (10)
Ernests Gulbis / LAT (13)
Roberto Bautista Agut / ESP (15)
Kevin Anderson / RSA (16)
Tommy Robredo / ESP (17)
Gael Monfils / FRA (18)
John Isner / USA (19)
Santiago Giraldo / COL (32)
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez / ESP(36)
Steve Johnson / USA (37)
Yen-Hsun Lu / TPE (38)
Dominic Thiem / AUT (39)
Jack Sock / USA (42)
Adrian Mannarino / FRA (44)
Pablo Carreno Busta / ESP (51)
Joao Sousa / POR (54)
Donald Young / USA (57)
Jan-Lennard Struff / GER (59)
Federico Delbonis / ARG (60)
Among the players who will join the event is Roberto Bautista Agut who earned the ATP most improved player award for 2014 and beat the world no. 5 Juan Martin del Potro in the second round of the Australian Open, before he bagged his first ATP World Tour title. Weeks later, he took home his second title in Stuttgart. Afterwards, he reached the semi-finals in Madrid and he ended the season as a runner up to Marin Cilic in Moscow.