Olympic champion Massú joins LG&T Challenger field

Olympic champion Massú joins LG&T Challenger field

Chile's Nicolas Massu returns the ball to U.S. players Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan during a Davis Cup tennis doubles match in Santiago, Chile, Saturday, March 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Roberto Candia) / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Seven years after making history at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Nicolas Massú will look for his first taste of success in Binghamton.

Massú, a double gold medalist and six-time ATP Tour champion, was announced Thursday as the first wild-card selection for the upcoming Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger at Recreation Park.

He previously competed in Binghamton in 1999, losing to Adam Peterson of the United States in the first round. Massú's return marks the first appearance of an Olympic gold medalist at the Binghamton event.

Massú turned pro in 1997 and has been ranked as high as No. 9 in the world, but his career highlight was a historic showing in Athens, where he became the only male player to win both singles and doubles gold medals in the same Games since tennis was restored as an Olympic sport  in 1988.

He also made history for Chile, earning his home country its first gold medal in his doubles win with Fernando González. Massú and González defeated Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schüttler of Germany on Aug. 21, 2004.

The next day, Massú defeated Mardy Fish of the United States in five sets to capture his second gold and earn Athlete of the Day honors from the Athens Olympics' organization.

Massú has 257 career victories, including 22 in Grand Slam singles competition. His most recent ATP Tour match was a straight-set loss to New Zealender Artem Satik in qualifying for the Legg Mason Tennis Classic on Sunday.

Much of Massú's early success came due to strong showings at Challenger tournaments, including back-to-back victories in Ecuador and a 1999 win in Santiago that pushed him into the Top 100 in the world.

He achieved his No. 9 ranking in 2004. Massú is currently ranked No. 469.

Joining him in the LG&T Challenger Draw are 22 other players from around the world, none ranked lower than 224. Play begins with qualifying rounds at 9 a.m. Saturday. The first round of singles and doubles competition is set for Wednesday, and the tournament concludes with finals on Sunday, Aug. 14.

South African Izak Van der Merwe is the top-ranked competitor, currently No. 113. He reached the semifinals in two of his four most recent events, and won the Johannesburg Challenger earlier this year.

Top-ranked Chilean Paul Capdeville, currently No. 118 in the world, returns to the LG&T after winning the tournament in 2008 and 2009.

Former Vanderbilt University standout Bobby Reynolds will make his fifth appearance in Binghamton. Reynolds, ranked No. 122, has reached the final at three Challenger events this year, defeating Andre Begemann of Germany for a tournament victory in Leon, Mexico.

Reynolds suffered a 6-3, 6-1 loss to former world No. 4 James Blake in the final of the Nielsen Pro Tennis Challenger on July 2 in Winnetka, Ill.

Arnau Brugues-Davi of Spain comes into the tournament on a hot streak, ranked No. 155 after wins on the Challenger and Futures Tours in the past month. Brugues-Davi has jumped 206 spots in the rankings since the start of 2011.

Wayne Odesnik, ranked No. 161, won Challenger events in Lexington, Ky., and Savannah, Ga., already this year.

Grega Zemlja (130) of Slovenia, Rogerio Dutra Da Silva (132) of Brazil, Augustin Gensse (144) of France, Ruben Bemelmans (145) of Belguim, Lucas Lacko (153) of Slovakia, Yuichi Sugita (166) of Japan, Vincent Millot (167) of France, Facundo Bagnis (169) of Argentina, Julio Silva (172) of Brazil, James Ward (174) of Great Britain, Evgeny Donskoy (177) of Russia and Frederik Nielsen (197) of Denmark are the other Top 200 players scheduled to compete.

Chris Guccione (224) of Australia and Fritz Wolmarans (219) of South Africa were added to the tournament as replacements for Tatsuma Ito (102) of Japan and Amir Weintraub (195) of Israel, who withdrew.

Eduardo Schwank (205) of Argentina, Danai Udomchoke (209) of Thailand and Juan Sebastian Cabal (221) of Colombia round out the field.