Tennis: Hrbaty back for Heineken Open

Defending champion Dominik Hrbaty will return to Auckland next year seeking a third Heineken Open tennis title.

Hrbaty, 27, will be making his eighth appearance at the Open from January 9-14, after winning the tournament in 2001 and 2004.

The current world No 20 from Slovakia beat rising superstar Rafael Nadal to win the title 4-6 6-2 7-5 last year and has missed the Auckland tournament only once since 1998 .

Hrbaty holds the current record for the most consecutive Grand Slam tournaments played among active players on the ATP circuit.

He has not missed a Grand Slam since he first played at the Australian Open in 1997, giving him a total 36 consecutive Grand Slam appearances.

Although not winning a title in 2005 to add to the six he already has, Hrbaty had a consistent year, reaching the semifinals of three events -- Los Angeles, Basel and Metz.

In January at the Australian Open, he had good wins over Gaston Gaudio and Thomas Johansson but lost to eventual winner Marat Safin.

"Dominik has become a crowd favourite here in Auckland -- almost a local player. He has been a great supporter of the Heineken Open and it is wonderful to see him back as a top-20 player," Heineken Open tournament director Graham Pearce said.

Hrbaty joins a quality list of top-20 players alongside Fernando Gonzalez, Robby Ginepri, Juan Carlos Ferrero plus wildcards Mark Philippoussis and Mark Nielsen.

- NZPA