The organisers of the ASB Classic Tennis Tournament have announced the strongest ever line-up in the event’s tournament with nine players inside the top 20 and a full field cut-off of 56. The first four seeds Jo Wlfried Tsonga (10 seed), John Isner (11), Kevin Anderson (12) and Benoit Paire (19) are ranked inside the top 20 of the ATP Ranking.
Anderson and Paire are the latest addition to the list of players including Tsonga and Isner who had been already announced
Anderson has enjoyed his best season in 2015 in which he claimed his third ATP title in Winston Salem and reached two finals at the Aegon Championships at the Quuen’s (losing to Andy Murray) and in Memphis (losing to Kei Nishikori). He lost to Novak Djokovic in five sets in the fourth round at Wimbledon before beating Andy Murray to reach the quarter finals at the US Open. Last June the South African beat another top 10 Stan Wawrinka in two tie-breaks at the Queen’s.
Frenchman Benoit Paire was awarded the ATP Comeback Player and won his first ever tournament in Bastad (Sweden). Paire knocked out last year’s US Open finalist Kei Nishikori in the first round at Flushing Meadows. The French player beat Nishikori for the second time in the semifinal of the Rakuten Open in Tokyo before losing to Stan Wawrinka in the final.
Ivo Karlovic, winner of six ATP titles including Delray Beach in 2015, will make his first ever appearance in Auckland. The Croatian giant broke the record for most ever aces with 10442 including 1447 aces in 2015.
Jiri Vesely will return to Auckland to defend the title won in 2015. The young Czech player also reached the final in Bucharest and the semifinal in Casablanca. Last January Vesely beat Adrian Mannarino 6-3 6-2 after starting from the qualifying round.
Fabio Fognini will make his first appearnce in Auckland since 2011. The Italian player won three singles titles and three doubles wins including the 2015 Australian Open with his compatriot Simone Bolelli.
Roberto Bautista Agut will return to Auckland after a good 2015 season in which he reached two finals in Valencia and Moscow and two semifinals in Umag and Munich. Jack Sock, who improved his best ranking to a career high of 25 in the ATP Ranking, became the youngest US player to reach the fourth round at the French Open since Pete Sampras in 1993 before winning his first ATP title in Houston.
“It is the strongest cut we have ever had. All players ranked inside the top 56 in the world is amazing and there is some real star power amongst it. We have numbers 10, 11, 12 in the world, some exciting new talent and some big hitters. It is going to be a tough week”, said Tournament Director Karl Budge.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (10)
John Isner (11)
Kevin Anderson (12)
Benoit Paire (19)
Fabio Fognini (21)
Ivo Karlovic (23)
Roberto Bautista Agut (25)
Jack Sock (26)
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (27)
Steve Johnson (32)
Joao Sousa (33)
Philipp Kohlschreiber (34)
Vasek Pospisil (39)
Jiri Vesely (41)
Aljaz Bedene (45)
Donald Young (48)
Albert Ramos-Vinolas (54)
Lukas Rosol (55)
Victor Estrella Burgos (56)
