World No. 5 David Ferrer of Spain who is also a defending champion at Auckland, will lead the field of the 2012 Heineken Open, an ATP World Tour 250 Event, which has been played in Auckland, New Zealand. Top-seed for this tournament, the Spaniard enjoyed substantial success in 2011 season.

Besides winning two ATP World Tour titles in 2011, Ferrer also made it to the semis at Aussie Open and beat world No.1 Novak Djokovic and World No.4 Andy Murray to his en-route to the ATP World Tour Finals semis.Ferrer is joined by his compatriot and World no. 10 Nicolas Almagro, who is seeded second in this tournament that will be played from 9-14 January 2012.

The other notable contenders in the draw are former World No. 7 Fernando Verdasco and American tennis sensation Donald Young.

Tournament Director Richard Palmer quoted, “Ferrer was one of the only players to beat Djokovic this year so he’s in some pretty impressive form as he heads to Auckland. And I’m sure both Verdasco and Young will be crowd pleasers with their emotive styles.”