New Zealand number one Michael Venus. Photo / Sarah Ivey
New Zealand No 1 Michael Venus has avoided the seeds in the first round of the Heineken Open and will play Columbian Santiago Giraldi next week.
Venus, ranked 379 in the world, was handed a wildcard into the main draw where he will face a tough task to topple world
No 55 Giraldi. If Venus manages to pull off an upset, a second round meeting awaits with second seed and world No 10 Nicolas Almagro.
Almagro, along with fellow top four seeds Juan Ignacio Chela, Fernando Verdasco and defending champion David Ferrer, have all been handed byes into the second round.
Venus' fellow wildcards, Americans Sam Querrey and Ryan Harrison, have been drawn to play each other in what is probably the pick of the first-round match-ups.
In the doubles draw, Venus and Dan King-Turner will play Treat Conrad Huey of the Philippines and American Scott Lipsky, while Rubin Statham and Artem Sitak face the third-seeded pairing of Slovakian Filip Polasek and Frantisek Cermak of the Czech Republic. Both Kiwi pairings received wildcards into the main draw.
