Tennis: Peruvian heading for Auckland

Peruvian Luis Horna is the eighth player in the world's top 40 to sign on for the Auckland men's international tournament next month.

Horna, ranked at No 38, is back at the US$404,000 Heineken Open for the third successive year.

The 24-year-old will be aiming to become the second Peruvian to win the Auckland singles title after Jaime Yzaga triumphed in 1992. He suffered first-round losses in 2003 and this year.

Horna won the Bermuda challenger event this year, and reached one ATP Tour final, losing at Long Island to Australian Lleyton Hewitt.

The full entry list is due to be revealed today. It will confirm 23 names in the 32-strong field.

Still to be sorted out will be four players from the qualifying tournament held on January 8-10, three wildcards - at least two of whom will be New Zealanders - and two special exemption places.

The eight top-ranked players confirmed are No 7 Guillermo Coria (Argentina), No 13 Tommy Robredo (Spain), No 14 Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia), No 19 Vince Spadea (United States), No 23 Fernando Gonzalez (Chile), No 26 Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina), No 31 Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) and Horna.