KEY POINTS:
A fourth world top-20 player has been confirmed for the Heineken Open international men's tennis tournament in Auckland next month.
Powerful Swede Robin Soderling, the world No 17, will take his place in Auckland coming off a strong season in which he won an ATP title at Lyon and made the finals at Rotterdam, Memphis and Stockholm this year.
Already named for the tournament on January 12-17 were world No 9 Juan Martin del Potro, of Argentina, No 12 David Ferrer, of Spain, and No 18 Nicolas Almagro, of Spain.
They are part of a strong field assembled for Auckland, bolstered further by the inclusion of defending champion, Philipp Kohlschreiber, of Germany, and this year's losing finalist and former world No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, of Spain.
The field features three players who contested the recent Davis Cup final between Spain and Argentina in del Potro, Ferrer and Jose Acasuso, ranked at No 48.
As well, much interest will centre on the form of the highly touted Ernests Gulbis, of Latvia.
Gulbis, 20, is ranked just outside the top 50 but is widely tipped to improve much further.
A quarterfinalist in this year's French Open, he also reached the last eight at the Masters Series event in Cincinnati.
"To have four players in the top-20 is sensational," tournament director Richard Palmer said today.
"Having both finalists from the 2008 event return is great for the tournament, while a player such as Gulbis is a real talent."
Organisers announced the following 19 direct entries for the tournament (prefix denotes world ranking): 9-Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina), 12-David Ferrer (Spain), 17-Robin Soderling (Sweden), 18-Nicolas Almagro (Spain), 28-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany), 39-Sam Querrey (US), 45-Albert Montanes (Spain), 46-Juan Monaco (Argentina), 47-Igor Kunitsyn (Russia), 48-Jose Acasuso (Argentina), 50-Victor Hanescu (Romania), 51-Robby Ginepri (US), 53-Ernests Gulbis (Latvia), 54-Marc Gicquel (France), 55-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain), 56-Marcel Granollers (Spain), 57-Viktor Troicki (Serbia), 58-Eduardo Schwank (Argentina), 59-Florence Sarra (France).
- NZPA
