By TERRY MADDAFORD
Jiri Novak will have to beat the odds as much as 31 other players when he lines-up in January's New Zealand Open.
The popular 27-year-old from the Czech Republic will play in the Heineken Open for the sixth time and, as the world No 7, seems certain to be
top seed.
While he will turn up at the ASB Bank Tennis Stadium for the January 6-11 tournament with the highest ranking of his 10-year professional career, Novak will have to beat the curse which has struck the top seeds in recent years.
Only Chilean Marcelo Rios, in 1998, has won as the top seed.
Novak, who meets Andre Agassi in his first-round match at the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai today, climbed the rankings from 29th at the end of last year to seventh without winning a singles title this year.
While the final field for the Open will not be known until the end of this month, Novak seems certain to take top seeding ahead of world No 12 Argentine David Nalbandian.
Former world No 1 and three-time French Open Gustavo Kuerten, should, as the world's 36th-ranked player, be seeded, but probably no higher than seventh or eighth.
