Another quality field has been confirmed for the 2006 Heineken Open featuring the Sovereign singles and doubles titles with the full player list announced to

day .  The January 9-14 tournament has all eight seeds inside the top 35 rankings. Defending champion Fernando Gonzalez of heads the field at a career-high 11 followed ’s David Ferrer at 15, American Robby Ginepri 16 and former champ Dominik Hrbaty at 19. Croatian Davis Cup player, Mariano Ancic has entered at No22 in the world. The giant Croat is part of a powerful Croatian team which takes on Hrbaty’s, Slovak side in the Davis Cup final this week.

Ancic a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 2004 was scheuled to play in the 2005 Heineken Open but injury forced him out of the event.  However this year he has had a good time on court winning the Hertogenbosch title on grass and making the finals at Scottsdale and Tokyo.

Returning to Auckland as a likely sixth seed is popular 2005 finalist Olivier Rochus of Belgium who at just 1.65m tall ran his way into a battle for the title only to have Gonzalez overpower him.  Rochus had a magical start to 2005 witha semifinal run at Adelaide in the first week followed by his effort at the Heineken Open and then a fourth round finish at the Australian Open the next week.  Other top results included reaching the semis at Nottingham and Stockholm.  He will be joined by older brother Christophe in the main draw.  Olivier is ranked at 28 and Christophe 42.

Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen at 29 is the likely seventh seed followed by Wimbledon quarter-finalist Feliciano Lopez at 34 as eighth seed.

High on potential is Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.  The 2–year-old was the world’s top junior two years ago and has steadily improved from his year-end ranking of 153 in 2004 to 56.  His best result in 2005 was at the Australian Open where he beat Ivan Ljubcic and Tommy Robredo before losing to Roger Federer in the fourth round.  He also reached his first career singles final at Basel before being defeated by Gonzalez in a tight match.

Another 20-year-old to watch for is Stanilsas Wawrinka at 55.  He is a member of the Swiss Davis Cup team and was a finalist at Gstaad as well as a quarter-finalist at Barcelona. 

And of course Britain’s Andy Murray is in the field at 64 on the rankings and will be a dangerous floater in the draw.

Crowds at the 2006 Heineken Open will no doubt be noisy in response to another Chilean player taking to the court as the current Olympic gold medallist in singles and doubles, Nicolas Massu has confirmed his entry.  In Athens he became the first player ever to win the singles and doubles title at the Olympics.  The former top-ten player is currently ranked at 66.

"It is a very exciting field with outstanding players in the top-20 combining with a great group of up-and-coming players to give the Heineken Open featuring the Soverign singles and doubles titles a world-class lineup," say Graham Pearce, Tournament Director of the Heineken Open.

Veteran Danish player Kenneth Carlsen, 32 also returns to Auckland.  He was finalist at the event back in 1997 losing to Jonas Bjorkman in a final which was held over a day as a result of rain.

Karol Beck of Slovakia is another player who is featuring in the Davis Cup final.  He has been an integral part of his nations run into its first ever final and scored a win over Guillermo Coria in singles and a doubles win in the semifinals against Argentina.

There is a total of 16 different nations with a strong European influence in the 23 direct entrants with the last player in American Paul Goldstein at 68.

The 2006 Heineken Open featuring the Soverign singles and doubles titles will be played January 9-14 at the ASB Tennis Centre, 1 Tennis Lane, Parnell.  The first two rounds of qualifying will be played January 7-8 at the More FM Tennis Park, Albany.

2006 Heineken Open Player List

11  -  Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)

15  -  David Ferrer (ESP)

16  -  Robby Ginepri (USA)

19  -  Dominik Hrbaty (SVK)

22  -  Mariano Ancic (CRO)

28  -  Olivier Rochus (BEL)

29  -  Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)

34  -  Feliciano Lopez (ESP)

39  -  Filippo Volandri (ITA)

41  -  Jose Acasuso (ARG)

42  -  Christophe Rochus (BEL)

51  -  Alberto Martin (ESP)

55  -  Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)

56  -  Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)

57  -  Karol Beck (SVK)

59  -  Thomas Zib (CZE)

61  -  Kenneth Carlsen (DEN)

62  -  Robin Vik (CZE)

64  -  Andy Murray (GBR)

65  -  Wesley Moodie (RSA)

66  -  Nicolas Massu (CHI)

67  -  Andrei Pavel (ROM)

68  -  Paul Goldstein (USA)

3 Wildcards

1.  Mark Philippoussis (AUS)

2.  Mark Nielson (NZL)

3.  One to be allocated through play off

2 special exempts

4 qualifiers