With three former French Open champs in Umag this week, the Generali Open gets the leftovers with a 48-man draw and Top 8 seeds
Nikolay Davydenko, Roland Garros runner-up Mariano Puerta, former French champ
Gaston Gaudio, Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez, Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez,
Mikhail Youzhny,
Nicolas Massu, and Olivier "The Roach" Rochus.
All 16 seeds receive opening-round byes, with potential second-round matches including (3) Gaudio vs. Al Costa in an all-French-Open-champ-match-up, and (8) O.Rochus vs. Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco.
In the 2004 final, Massu edged Gaudio 7-6(3), 6-4.
Returning champs in the field are Massu (2004),
Nicolas Lapentti (2001), and the three-time champ Costa (1999-98,'95).
On court Monday are Zib vs. (WC) Marach, Kohlschreiber vs. A.Costa, (Q) Vemic vs. (WC) Hipfl, (Q) Luczak vs. Vik, Sluiter vs. Di Mauro, Monaco vs. Mayer, (Q) Ramirez Hidalgo vs. (Q) Labadze, and Ventura vs. Behrend.
