Tennis: Soderling still on radar

The Heineken Open could feature two top-10 players but, in the delicate business of signing tennis players, could also miss out on a star attraction.

World No5 and 2009 French Open champion Robin Soderling and Spain's David Ferrer, the world No8, are still in talks with Heineken Open boss Richard Palmer about playing in Auckland in January. Both have played the event and Ferrer was the 2007 champion.

Palmer was quietly optimistic about Ferrer, who has played in the tournament for the past six years, but unsure about Soderling. Palmer nearly secured Soderling and hasn't given up.

"He's still on the radar," Palmer said. "He hasn't said no but he hasn't said yes either. It would be great if we could pull it off. I'm more confident about getting Ferrer here than Soderling."

The 26-year-old Soderling has had another good year, rising to his career-high ranking of five. He won one title and came close to defending his French Open title, beaten by Rafael Nadal in the final.

The Swede was ousted by eventual champion Juan Martin Del Potro in the semifinals in 2009 and was a first-round casualty in 2004.

Palmer has already secured defending champion and world No 19 John Isner as well as 2008 champion Philipp Kohlschreiber (34) but it's becoming increasingly difficult to attract quality fields to Auckland because of the big money exhibition tournaments elsewhere.

Palmer is still working on attracting Albert Montanes (23), Juan Monaco (25), Andrey Golubev (36) and Denis Istomen (43). Nicolas Almagro (16) and David Nalbandian (29) are still available but aren't major targets. The full line-up will be known on December 1.

The start list for the ASB Classic will be known a week earlier. As well as Maria Sharapova and defending champion Yanina Wickmayer, 2005 singles and doubles champion Katarina Srebotnik and Kveta Peschke, the world's no 2 doubles combination, have agreed to play in next year's doubles.