Tennis: Tough draw - tough luck

By TERRY MADDAFORD

The luck of the draw has done no favours for some of the world's best players looking for a decent run at the men's open in Auckland this week.

Apart from the eight seeded players, there is no preferential treatment for any player in the 32-strong main draw.

This is bad news for players searching for crucial match practice ahead of next week's Australian Open.

Those drawing the short straw included two former world No 4s, American Todd Martin and German Nicolas Kiefer, well-performed Belgian Xavier Malisse, rising Spanish star Rafael Nadal and his compatriot and former world No 2, Alex Corretja.

All have been drawn against seeds in the first round of the Heineken Open, which starts this morning.

In a mouth-watering match-up, third seed and defending champion Gustavo Kuerten will play Corretja.

In the pair's eight encounters, Brazilian hero Kuerten lost the first two (in 1998) but none since, including the 2001 French Open final, which he won in four sets.

Organisers make no apologies, saying it is, like all tournaments, a random draw in which only the seeds are kept apart.

Second seed Jiri Novak, from the Czech Republic, an Auckland regular and 1996 open winner, will play Malisse second-up on centre court at the ASB Bank Tennis Centre today.

It promises to be a tough test for Novak, who has come here after playing Hopman Cup in Perth.

"I played three good matches, losing two, but all were close," he said yesterday after a decent hit-up with his doubles partner and fellow main draw singles player, Radek Stepanek.

"He will be really tough. We have played, I think, three times. I'm not sure of our record."

Novak has won all three clashes in straight sets, the last on the hardcourts at Toronto in 2002.

Kiefer, on the ATP tour since 1995 and the winner of six career titles - and US$4.3 million ($6.4 million) - could not have faced a tougher opening match.

He will play top seed and world No 5 Guillermo Coria, of Argentina, in tonight's feature.

They have met only twice since Coria joined the tour in 2000, Kiefer winning in Washington (on a hard court) that year and Coria in their second-round clash at last year's French Open on clay.

Nadal, the 17-year-old who has already beaten fellow Spaniards Carlos Moya and Albert Costa, and Magnus Norman and Younes El Aynaoui, will play fourth seed and 1999 open winner Sjeng Schalken, of the Netherlands, in another second-day feature.

New Zealand wildcards Mark Nielsen and Simon Rea had differing luck when the names were drawn.

Nielsen, who got a last-minute wildcard when the two special exempts were not claimed, will play 2001 champion Dominik Hrbaty, of Slovakia, who is unseeded.

Rea will not know until later today who he will play first up, also tomorrow, as he will meet one of four players to win through from qualifying.

In an all-American clash, again on the second day, Martin, who in the end did not need a wildcard to make the main draw, will play world No 29 and fifth seed Vince Spadea.

While there is no guarantee of a New Zealand presence in second-round singles, a New Zealand pairing will reach the second round of the doubles.

In another random selection, the pairings of Rea/Nielsen and Daniel King-Turner and Matt Prentice were drawn against each other and will meet in the fourth match on an outside court this afternoon.

The top doubles combination of Mahesh Bhupathi (India)/Fabrice Santoro (France) will play the last of this afternoon's matches on centre court against the well-performed Gaston Gaudio (Argentina)/Kiefer.

Today's schedule

All courts from 11am

Centre court: D. Sanchez (Spain) v J.-M. Gambill (US) followed by X. Malisse (Belgium) v 2 J. Novak (Czech), 7 F. Gonzalez (Chile) v R. Sluiter (Netherlands), 1 M. Bhupathi (India)/F. Santoro (France) v G. Gaudio (Argentina)/N. Lapentti (Ecuador), not before 7pm 1 G. Coria (Argentina) v N. Kiefer (Germany), J. Coetzee/C. Haggard (South Africa) v 4 T. Cibulec/L. Friedl (Czech).

Court four.A. Pavel (Romania) v F. Hemmes (Netherlands) qualifying, followed by G. Muller (Luxembourg) v F. Serra (France) qualifying, 3 J. Palmer (US)/P. Vizner (Czech) v D. Bowen (US)/A. Martin (Spain), D. King-Turner/M. Prentice (NZ) v M. Nielsen/S. Rea (NZ).

Court six.M. Ancic (Croatia) v S. De Chaunac (France) qualifying, W. Moodie (South Africa) v P. Kohlschreiber (Germany) qualifying, G. Carraz (France) v K. Beck (Slovakia).