KOBLENZ, December 26, 2017
The entry list for the second edition of the Koblenz Open has been revealed on Tuesday led by World No. 107 Andrey Kuznetsov. The 26-year-old Russia could make his debut at the €43,000 ATP Challenger event, which will be held from 14 to 21 January 2018 at the Conlog Arena in Koblenz.
Kuznetsov won the Boys’ Singles title at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. He achieved his singles career-high of World No. 39 in April 2016. The Tula native captured seven ATP Challenger titles, his last triumph is dated back to the year 2015.
Kuznetsov will be joined by defending champion Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium and a strong contingent of German players such as Dustin Brown, Yannick Maden and Oscar Otte.
Gulbis To Skip Australia
The most popular player on the list, however, will be Ernests Gulbis. The 29-year-old from Latvia announced to skip the Australian Open series and commited to play in Koblenz.
Koblenz Open Entry List
Three years ago, Gulbis was ranked inside the top 10 of the ATP rankings and advanced to the semi-finals of the French Open but had to deal with injuries in recent times. The 29-year-old from Latvia captured six ATP World Tour titles but was also successful at ATP Challenger level. Gulbis lifted four trophies, one on German soil at the ATP Challenger in Eckental in 2006. The current World No. 200 earned a total prize money of almost $6.5 million.
“Gulbis is a stuttering genius. He also had a couple of ups and downs this season, highlighted by his win over Juan Martin Del Potro at Wimbledon. He is currently getting ready for the new season in Tenerife, preparing together with Dominic Thiem and Philipp Kohlschreiber,” tournament director Heiko Hampl stated.
Young Guns To Come To Koblenz
With Zdenek Kolar from the Czech Republic, Spaniards Jaume Munar and Nicola Kuhn, Dmitry Popku of Kazakhstan as well as Norwegian Casper Ruud a couple of #NextGenATP players are also part of the line-up.
“I’m really looking forward to Nicola Kuhn, as well as to Jan Choinski and Benny Hassan. They all have improved a lot this year. Benny climbed up 700 places in four months and will be ranked World No. 530 next week,” Hampl said.
For tickets, please click here.
