KEY POINTS:
The stars will finally come out to play on day three of the men's Open in Auckland.
After sitting out the first round, all four top seeds will be in action on centre court today. The bumper day session will be followed by a repeat of last year's Heineken Open final between Philipp Kohlschreiber and Juan Carlos Ferrero this evening.
After a couple of days of relative famine, feast time has arrived.
The absence of the top four players for the opening two days has led to a curiously flat start to the tournament. The uninspiring singles efforts of Kiwis Rubin Statham and Dan King-Turner were a factor, but the absence of world No 9 Juan Martin Del Potro and No 12 David Ferrer is the chief reason for the subdued start.
The merit of shifting from a 32- to a 28-player draw - and granting first round byes to the top four seeds - appears questionable. The move allows the top players more flexibility with their schedules and caters to their desire to play a maximum of four matches in the build-up to the Australian Open. That presumably helps with recruitment and lessens the likelihood of late-round withdrawals, but the flipside is a tournament denuded of star quality in its opening days.
The sparse crowds on the first two days were a reflection of the entertainment on offer.
The schedule also raises the prospect of the big guns being under-done heading into what shape up as tough encounters today.
Del Potro makes his first appearance of the season against battle-hardened Latvian Ernests Gulbis.
The 51st-ranked Gulbis needed three sets to get past Spaniard Marcel Gronollers yesterday. He looked impressive in taking the first set 6-4 and the decider 6-1 but dropped the middle set in a tiebreaker.
A loss of concentration had caused the blip, Gulbis said.
Having beaten world No 4 Novak Djorkovic in Brisbane last week, Gulbis is carrying good form into today's encounter.
The pair have met once before, Del Potro compiling a comfortable straight sets victory in Cincinnati in 2007.
Ferrer, the 2007 champion and another making his season debut, faces Frenchman Marc Gicquel, who beat Argentinian Augustin Callieri in three sets yesterday. Ferrer won the last meeting between the two on grass in Holland last year but Gicquel was victorious in two previous encounters, one on hard courts and one on carpet.
"It will be a very tough match," Ferrer said. "He serves very well and has plenty of power."
Ferrer might not have played singles yet but he did have a doubles hit-out against Kiwis Rubin and Oliver Statham yesterday.
"I never play the first week of the year, I prefer to stay at home with my family," he said.
Defending champion Kohlschreiber made short work of Slovakian wildcard Dominik Hrbaty, dispatching the two-time champion 6-1, 6-2 in just 52 minutes to set up the rematch against Ferrero.
"Last year it was the final - this year second round so we can see how tough the draw is here," Kohlschreiber said.
"Hopefully we see good tennis [today] - with the right winner."
The German had been battling shoulder soreness in training leading into the match but he showed no ill effects in comprehensively outplaying Hrbaty, who flew immediately to Melbourne to participate in qualifying for the Australian Open.
Third seed Robin Soderling takes on qualifier Bobby Reynolds, one of four Americans in the last 16. Reynolds certainly has plenty of tennis under his belt. His fourth match of the tournament was a 2h 42m marathon against fellow qualifier Oscar Hernandez. Reynolds took the first set 7-5, lost the second in a tiebreak and ran away with the third 6-2 to finally subdue Hernandez.
