Tennis: Wimbledon semifinalist icing on the cake

When Graham Pearce turned on his computer yesterday morning, he could have been forgiven for giving it a whack to check it wasn't playing tricks on him.

Already delighted at having seven players in the world's top 31 for January's Heineken Open field in Auckland, tournament director Pearce found the name Mario Ancic bobbling around in the list of players to enter the US$404,000 event before yesterday's cutoff.

Ranked No 29 in the world, the Croatian bumped former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero to eighth seed to round off what is the strongest field in the Open's history.

The 20-year-old Ancic might not be a household name. He lost his one ATP final appearance this year, in Milan to Frenchman Antony Dupuis, but shot to prominence at Wimbledon by reaching the semifinals.

Along the way he tipped out three other Auckland-bound players, Luis Horna, Julien Benneteau and Dominik Hrbaty, before losing to American Andy Roddick.

He came to Auckland earlier this year, losing in the last 16 to returning Spaniard Rafael Nadal.

"To pick up someone like him, a young guy on the way up, it's great," Pearce said.

The entry list of 23 players - four qualifiers, three wildcards and two special exemptions still to be named will complete the field of 32 - was revealed yesterday, with three former Open champions confirmed.

Dutchman Sjeng Schalken, who won the 1999 title, Slovak Hrbaty, who will defend the title he also won in 2001, and Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman, the 1997 champion, will have an extra incentive - a US$15,000 bonus if the crown goes to a past winner.

Bjorkman, who reached No 4 at his peak and was ranked the world's best doubles player, is world No 70, the 11th successive year he has been in the top 75.

He has won five doubles Grand Slam titles - including the last three Wimbledon titles - and with Australian Todd Woodbridge has formed one of the great pair combinations, not to mention having won five ATP singles crowns.

Anyone watching Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, this year's doubles champion, in January might want to take a pillow.

The 32-year-old Tahitian-born Santoro won the longest match in history at the French Open this year, beating countryman Arnaud Clement in 6h 33m, winning the deciding set 16-14.

Three members of the Spanish team looking to lift the Davis Cup final against the United States this weekend in Seville are coming.

On the other side of the net, Vince Spadea is with the American team for the final and Robby Ginepri was part of his country's team in an earlier cup tie this year.

Seven South American players are in the field, spearheaded by top-seed and world No 7 Guillermo Coria, of Argentina.

The draw, as it stands, will throw up a potential blockbusting quarter-final between the ambitious former world No 3 Coria and former world No 1 Ferrero.

Off court, the Open is also looking good. There is a waiting list for the hospitality boxes, and ticket sales, in Peace's words, are "going gangbusters".

The event is primed for a bumper week, starting on January 10.

The top players

Guillermo Coria (world No 7, Argentina)
Tommy Robredo (13, Spain)
Dominik Hrbaty (14, Slovakia)
Vince Spadea (19, United States)
Fernando Gonzalez (23, Chile)
Juan Ignacio Chela (26, Argentina)
Mario Ancic (29, Croatia)
Juan Carlos Ferrero (31, Spain)
Luis Horna (38, Peru)
Rafael Nadal (51, Spain)
Fabrice Santoro (52, France)
Cyril Saulnier (53, France)
Mariano Zabaleta (54, Argentina)
Sjeng Schalken (57, Netherlands)
Agustin Calleri (58, Argentina)
Robby Ginepri (61, US)
Stefan Koubek (63, Austria)
Julien Benneteau (65, France)
Olivier Rochus (66, Belgium)
Jose Acasuso (67, Argentina)
Alberto Martin (68, Spain)
Gilles Muller (69, Luxembourg)
Jonas Bjorkman (70, Sweden)

* Four qualifiers, three wildcards, two special exemptions