6/14/10 3:50 AM | Kelli DeMario
Players will have a final chance to prepare for Wimbledon, as they head to Eastbourne, Great Britain this week. Fellow Spaniards Nicolas Almagro and Feliciano Lopez are slated to lead a draw of 32 grass-court competitors.
World No. 18 Nicolas Almagro heads to Eastbourne, set for his first appearance at the tournament since suffering an opening-round loss in 2006. The 24-year-old, entering into the event as the top seed, returns to action after finishing among the final eight at Roland Garros (lost to Nadal). Almagro is 28-14 for the 2010 season.
World No. 30 Feliciano Lopez will commence his second AEGON International as the second seed. The 28-year-old will be looking to continue his winning ways on grass, having reached the semifinal at Queen’s Club last week. The Spaniard, who begins the tournament with an 18-12 mark, made headlines after delivering a straight-sets defeat to World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinal.
The field of additional seeded combatants includes: Gilles Simon, Julien Benneteau, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Horacio Zeballos, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Michael Llodra.
Almagro is located in the same half as 4th seed Benneteau, 5th seed Garcia-Lopez and 6th seed Zeballos. The 25-year-old will open his campaign against Lukasz Kubot of Poland in the first round. With two early-round victories, the Spaniard looks to a possible quarterfinal meeting with the Argentine.
Lopez heads a potentially tricky part of the draw, which hosts 3rd seed Simon, 7th seed Dolgopolov, 8th seed Llodra, veteran Rainer Schuettler, Evgeny Korolev and qualifier Kei Nishikori. The 28-year-old’s closest seed is Dolgopolov, whom he would meet for a place in the semifinal. Lopez is scheduled to face wildcard James Ward in the opening round.
Former top 10 fixtures Gilles Simon and James Blake will be making their respective returns to competition this week, having missed the past few months with knee injuries.
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