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NZ Tennis Champs Underway With Top Talent Taking Court

Thursday 19 December 2019, 11:44AM

By dave worsley

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The first matches at the Wellington Open NZ Championships get underway today at midday with some of New Zealand’s ATP ranked players taking the court along with a number of rising stars of the sport in New Zealand.

There are plenty of incentives at the tournament which runs 19-22 December at Wellington’s Renouf Tennis Centre with a prize pool of $12,000 and potential wildcards to ITF Futures tournaments around the country in the new year.

Starting on court first is 19-year-old, Macsen Sisam from Auckland who was a beaten finalist in the NZ Champs two years ago and is a powerful hitter who is currently on a scholarship at Vanderbilt in the United States. In the first round he takes on Wellington’s Milo Benn who is on a tennis scholarship at the University of Montana.

Another Wellingtonian who has entered the pro rankings is KP Pannu who is an outsider for the title. He has improved his game dramatically by playing ITF Futures tournaments and takes on Hawkes Bay junior Daniel Rowe in the first round.

Lower Hutt teen, George Stoupe plays his singles match today and later in the tournament will be on court in the doubles with top player Marcus Daniell who is ranked 43rd in the world.

Also taking the court in first round matches are top Canterbury junior Reece Falck, another Wellington teen in Isaac Becroft,  Rob Reynolds from the Hawkes Bay, plus a number of early round women’s matches.

The men’s singles draw has double-defending champion, Finn Tearney along with Ajeet Rai as two of the top seeds while the women’s draw is headed by New Zealand No.1 Paige Hourigan.

The tournament runs from 19-22 December at the Renouf Tennis Centre in Wellington with the finals day televised live on Sky TV.

http://www.tenniscentral.kiwi/