By TERRY MADDAFORD
A year ago Fernando Gonzalez stumbled in qualifying for the Heineken Open, losing in the third round to American Robby Genepri.
The hard-hitting Chilean is back for a second tilt, but this time without any worries about qualifying.
As the tournament's third seed and the world's 18th-ranked player, the 20-year-old
is among the favourites - and one of five South Americans seeds - for the Open at the ASB Tennis Centre.
Having displaced 1998 Open winner Marcelo Rios as his country's top-ranked player, Gonzalez is very much part of the South American tennis revolution in a part of the world where football rules.
On a back court and hitting under the watchful eye of his Argentine coach Horacio de la Pena within hours of flying into Auckland, Gonzalez spoke of the friendship among the South Americans on tour.
"There is some friendly rivalry, but it is good to have other people who you can talk to," Gonzalez said.
"Chile is a small country, but we now have three good players."
Asked how much higher he believed he could climb the rankings after jumping from 135 to 18 in the past year, Gonzalez said: "I just want to play my best tennis."
He added, quietly, that he had his sights set on the top 10.
"Last year was a big change for me. I took a lot of confidence from it."
Taking a break since his last tournament in Vienna in October, Gonzalez has arrived refreshed and ready to add to the three ATP titles he has picked up so far, at Orlando, Florida, Vina del Mar and Palermo.
He captured two of those titles last year - Vina del Mar and Palermo - and lost the Basel final to David Nalbandian, the player seeded one place higher than him here.
In the last month at home in the Chilean capital of Santiago, Gonzalez spent four or five hours on court and another couple doing fitness work - running or weights.
In some late changes, former Heineken winners Jonas Bjorkman and Sjeng Schalken have withdrawn.
Bjorkman has become a first-time father and Schalken has pulled out due to injury.
Czech Jiri Novak, who had a timely win over world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt in the Hopman Cup on Thursday, remains the top seed.
Argentine Nalbandian and Gonzalez remain the next two on the list, with Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten now set to be seeded fourth.
The bottom four now comprise Argentine Jose Acasuso, American Jan-Michael Gambill, Davide Sanguinetti of Italy and Argentine Agustin Calleri.
