Top Talent Eases Through At NZ Tennis Champs

There were no major upsets in the initial round of the 2019 Wellington Open NZ Tennis Championships at the Renouf Centre in the Capital as all of the seeded players won their matches in straight sets.

Macsen Sisam, the 2017 runner-up won 6-4 6-4 over Wellington’s Milo Benn, although it took in excess of two hours for the victory. Sisam now faces the talented 16-year-old James Sim from Bucklands Beach in Auckland.

The highly rated Wellingtonian, KP Pannu who has ATP ranking points to his name won his match over Daniel Rowe 6-3 6-3 and Isaac Becorft accounted for Alexander Evans from the Manawatu in his match. He now features in one of the top matches of the second round against Rotorua junior Nick Beamish while Lower Hutt’s George Stoupe faces former semifinalist Zack Waanga in another notable contest.

Hawkes Bays Rob Reynolds and the Canterbury duo of Connor Heap and Reece Falck were other names to progress.  

The feature double match of the second day of the tournament will match Sisam and Alexander Klintcharov against Falck and Matt Alexander while the women’s singles has Holly Stewart taking on fellow Aucklander Sofia Shing and Sarah Weekley against another Aucklander in Isabelle Coman.

The top four seeded players in men’s and women’s singles draws as well as top seeded doubles teams including world No.43 Marcus Daniell take the court on Saturday with the finals of the tournament on Sunday afternoon. The tournament is worth $12,000 and wildcards for ITF Futures tournaments around the country in the new year.