The men's entry list for January's ASB Classic is one of the most condensed in recent times with rankings ranging from just 21 to 58.
American left-hander Ben Shelton tops the list at 21 in the world followed by defending champion Alejandro Tabilo two places below.
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New to the entry list Argentine No 1 Sebastian Baez comes in as third seed after an epic start to the year where he reached the semis at Cordoba, quarters at Buenos Aires, won the title at Rio de Janairo and also at Santiago in consecutive tournaments.
Another Argentine, Francisco Cerundolo is next at 30 in the rankings after a number of semifinal results throughout the year and strong performances in Davis Cup.
Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France is the fifth seed at 31 in the rankings and used his big serve and height to huge advantage. Flavio Caboli is another young player just a spot further back in the rankings
Nuno Borges is the seventh seed from Portugal who played at the ASB Classic in 2024 when he reached the second round.
He's now just below his career high of 30 after winning the title in Bastard over Rafael Nadal in the final and making the fourth round at the Australian Open.
Twenty-year-old Alex Michelson returns to Auckland again. He made the finals at Newport and Winston Salem throughout the year to improve his ranked up to 41 to be the eighth seed.
Of the unseeded players are locally-raised Cam Norrie at 49 as well as Geal Monfils and rising star Jakub Mensik, veteran Jan-Lennard Struff who won the Munich title and a raft of other players
The ASB Classic men's tournament run by tournament director Nicolas Lamperin is held 6-11 January 2025.
Entry list:
21 Ben Shelton (USA), 23 Alejandro Tabilo (Chile), 27 Sebastian Baez (Argentina), 30 Francisco Cerundolo (Argentina), 31 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (France), 32 Flavio Cabolli, 36 Nuno Borges (Portugal), 41 Alex Michelson (USA), 42 Jan-Lennard Struff (Germany), 43 Pedro Martinez (Spain), 44 Luciano Darderi (Italy), 47 Mariano Navone (Argentina), 48 Jakub Mensik (Czech Republic), 49 Cam Norrie (England), 53 Lorenzo Sonego (Italy), 55 Gael Monfils (France), 58 Roberto Carballes Baena (Spain), 58 Fabian Marozan (Hungary)