The men's ASB Classic will feature nine players inside the world's top 30 for one of its deepest fields yet.
Organisers today confirmed the full line-up for the renamed tournament, adding another couple of top 20 players to the previously announced Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (world No10) and John Isner (11).
Kevin
Anderson (12) will return to Auckland after his semifinal appearance in 2015, having gone on to enjoy a career-best year. The giant South African claimed his third ATP title at the Winston-Salem Open and made two further finals at the Aegon Championships (losing to Andy Murray) and Memphis Open (losing to Kei Nishikori).
He also shone in Grand Slams, narrowly going down to Novak Djokovic in five sets in the round-of-16 at Wimbledon before getting one back over Murray to advance to the quarter-final's of the US Open, his third top ten scalp of the year.
Benoit Paire (19) will be the fourth top 20 player on show, with the flamboyant Frenchmen having had a resurgent year in 2015. He claimed his first career title in Sweden and was subsequently awarded ATP Comeback Player after rising 99 spots in the world rankings.
Italian Fabio Fognini (21) will bring further flair to the field in his first appearance back in Auckland since 2011, while Croatian Ivo Karlovic (23) will at 36 make his first Auckland appearance, one of four new comers (alongside Vasek Pospisil, Aljaz Bedene and Victor Estrella Burgos).
Becoming a regular in Auckland, Spain's Roberto Bautista-Agut (25) returns on the back of a year that garnered two finals (Valencia and Moscow) and semifinals in Umag and Munich. And rounding out the top eight seeds, American Jack Sock (26) will be back after his first visit to Auckland in 2014 as a wildcard.
"It is the strongest cut we have ever had," said tournament director Karl Budge. "All players ranked inside the top 56 in the world is amazing and there is some real star power amongst it.
"We have numbers 10, 11 and 12 in the world, some exciting new talent and some big hitters. It is going to be a tough week."
It could grow tougher still, with four-time Auckland champion David Ferrer (7) having asked organisers to hold him a wildcard. Ferrer has committed to play in Doha the week prior to the ASB Classic, but an early loss in Doha could open the door for the Spaniard to have another crack at becoming the outright most successful ever champion in Auckland.
"If David goes deep in Doha understandably he will go straight to Melbourne," Budge said. "However, if he does ask for that wildcard it would mean our top four seeds would be ranked inside the world's top 12 players."
The men's week of the ASB Classic begins on January 10 at the ASB Tennis Arena in Auckland. The women's tournament gets underway the week prior starting on January 4.
Full list of seeded men's players for the ASB Classic 2016:
1. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (10)
2. John Isner (11)
3. Kevin Anderson (12)
4. Benoit Paire (19)
5. Fabio Fognini (21)
6. Ivo Karlovic (23)
7. Roberto Bautista Agut (25)
8. Jack Sock (26)
9. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (27)
10. Steve Johnson (32)
11. Joao Sousa (33)
12. Philipp Kohlschreiber (34)
13. Vasek Pospisil (39)
14. Jiri Vesely (41)
15. Aljaz Bedene (45)
16. Donald Young (48)
17. Albert Ramos-Vinolas (54)
18. Lukas Rosol (55)
19. Victor Estrella Burgos (56)
