Newcomer Shines For Kiwis In Long Battles At ASB Pro Circuit Tennis Futures

It may not be a win every time but New Zealand players showed plenty of grit on the court in the first round of singles at the ASB Pro Circuit tennis Futures in Hamilton.

 

While Kiwi No1 and tournament eighth seed Rubin Statham managed to beat countryman GD Jones 6-3 6-4 in one hour 26 minutes in the US$15,000 draw. The rest of New Zealanders spent plenty of time on court.

 

Jones had plenty of break points in his favour and an opportunity to go ahead 3-1 in the second set when Statham was serving love-40, however he wasn’t able to capitalise on his chances.

 

Statham will play Barbados Haydn Lewis who fought for three hours and three minutes to overcome Kiwi Davis Cup team member Adam Thompson 6-7(3) 7-6(8) 7-6(5).

 

Meanwhile it took second seed and world No333, Tatsuma Ito(Japan) just under two hours to put away Oliver Statham in the first round. Ito beat the 894th ranked Statham 6-4 3-6 6-4. Ito will play Kiwi teenager Marcus Daniell in Wednesday action.

 

Newcomer Katherine Westbury who turned 16 a couple of days ago and who has roots in the Waikato but is based in Sydney showed potential when she won a 4-6 6-1 6-3 battle over Aussie qualifier Hayley Erickson.

 

With her victory the double-handed Westbury should gain her first WTA ranking next week. She will need to step up in the second round if she wants to make her second career quarterfinal at US$10,000 Futures level when she plays third seed Montinee Tangphong(Thailand) who has a world ranking of 331.

 

Westbury will play first up at 10am followed by fellow Kiwi Di Hollands versus the winner from the North Harbour tournament last week, Ling Zhang. By coincidence Hollands played Zhang(Hong Kong) in the second round last week and lost in three sets. Zhang is the tournament fifth seed.

 

In other early day two matches top women’s seed Sandy Gumulya(Indonesia) defeated Australian Alison Bai in straight sets while men’s third seed Miles Armstrong was beaten 6-3 6-3 by Japan’s Yuichi Ito.

 

The New Zealand and Australian doubles duo of Rubin Statham and Carsten Ball won through to the semifinals after defeating another Trans-tasman duo, Marcus Daniell and Joel Lindner in three sets. Statham and Ball the tournament second seeds won 4-6 6-3 11-9 with Ball unleashing a few of huge serves which have helped take him to 114 in the world in doubles with a high of 102 and a vital place in the Australian Davis Cup team.