World No.11 Richard Gasquet is set to headline the field in January’s Kooyong Classic in Melbourne, Australia.
It will be the third consecutive year that the Frenchman will participate in the exhibition tournament. Gasquet has never reached the final of the event with his best run being the semi-final in 2014. This year Gasquet has claimed two ATP titles in Montpellier and Estoril. In the Grand Slam tournaments the world number 11 reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the quarter-finals at the US Open.
Joining Gasquet in the draw will be Nick Kyrgios. The controversy-stricken player has endured a troublesome 2015 following a comment he made during his match against Stan Wawrinka. The comment resulted in Kyrgios receiving a hefty fine and a one-month suspended ban. The 20-year-old is yet to win an ATP title in his career, but came close this year during at the Estoril Open where he was runner-up to Gasquet.
The two other names confirmed for the draw is 2006 Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis and world No.10 Gilles Simon. 30-year-old Baghdatis is yet to win a title in 2015 and is currently ranked 52 in the world. In contrast, Simon won his 12th ATP title in February at the Open 13 in Marseille, France.
There are still eight players to be confirmed for the four-day exhibition tournament which starts on January 12th. The first edition of the event was in 1988 and it has been held annually annually since 1995. Six former world No.1s have won the event, including Lleyton Hewitt, Roger Federer and Andre Agassi.
In the final of the 2015 tournament, Fernando Verdasco defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov after the Ukrainian retired. It was the second time that Verdasco has won the exhibition. His first triumph was in 2010.
