Kiwis Gain Wildcards Into Wellington Event

The wildcards for the Configure Express Pro US$25,000 women’s tennis Challenger tournament and the US$15,000 men’s Futures to be held next week at the Renouf Tennis Centre in Wellington have been confirmed giving the tournament some more Kiwi names to take the court in the main draw.

However one of the biggest names in Kiwi tennis over the last few years has had to withdraw from the November 16 to 21 tournament after suffering from an arm injury.

Marina Erakovic. The Kiwi No2 will not make the tournament as she has a niggling injury. Leaving Sacha Jones as the big Kiwi threat in what is a very strong tournament. Jones gains a direct entry as a result of her ranking of 268. She may be one of the seeded players.

Joining Jones, but as wildcards will be talented teenagers, Katherine Westbury who has a WTA ranking of 771 and Emily Fanning who is yet to gain a ranking. Both originate from Canterbury, although Westbury, 17 has Thai connections and Fanning has links to Australia and although only 15 she has talent, having won through qualifying at a tournament of the same prizemoney last year.

The third of the fourth wildcards goes to Chelsea Te Tai, 18 Who is based in Australia but originally hails from North Harbour. The final women’s wildcard is yet to be confirmed.

Jones, who turned 20 earlier this week is currently playing in a US$25,000 event Western Australia and has been ranked as high as 157 in the world.

Slovak-born, Australian Jarmila Groth ranked at 42 in the world will be the women’s top seed. It is unusual for someone with such a high ranking to enter a US$25,000 tournament, however she will be able to spend some time with her husband, Sam Groth who is ranked 351 and will play in the men’s Futures event at the same time.

Twenty-three year-old Groth won the WTA singles title at Guaangzhou in China earlier this year and reached the fourth round singles at both the French Open and Wimbledon plus had a semifinal finish at the WTA event in Istanbul and made the quarterfinals at Estoril WTA tournament in Portugal.

There are 11 different nations from as far afield as Peru, Germany, Greece, Israel and Japan represented out of the 18 direct entries in the women’s main draw.

In the men’s Futures the wildcards have been confirmed for Kiwis Marvin Barker ranked in the 900’s who has an Australian background. Former North Harbour player Sebastian Lavie, who is based in Paris and ranked at 1129. North Harbour’s Anton Bettink also gains a wildcard and the sponsors choice, Adam Staub from Auckland is the fourth wildcard.

New Kiwi star, Michael Venus, the likely third seed in the men’s Futures with a ranking of 304 after going from no ranking just over 12 months ago will be the key hometown player. Rubin Statham is also in the main draw as is Russian born, but now Kiwi resident Artem Sitak is in the player list at 328. Top seed will be fiery Australian Brydan Klein ranked at 247.

The Configure Express Pro and the men’s Futures are part of an Australasian circuit of tournaments in the cut-throat world of professional tennis. A number of players from New Zealand will be aiming to achieve impressive results to force their claims for wildcards into the 2011 ASB Classic and Heineken Open in Auckland as well as earn WTA and ATP international ranking points.

Configure Express Pro US$25,000 women’s main draw entry list (18 players – with nations listed and world rankings):
Jarmila Groth(AUS) 43, Sally Peers(AUS) 157, Arina Rodionova(RUS) 178, Erika Sema(JPN) 236, Melanie South(GBR) 252, Eirini Georgatou(GRE) 253, Elitsa Kostova(BUL) 258, Sacha Jones(NZL) 268, Kumiko Iijima(JPN) 276, Bianca Botto(PER) 277, Shiho Akita(JPN) 281, Chiaki Okadaue(JPN) 283, Natsumi Hamamura(JPN) 286, Timea Babos(HUN) 327, Tammi Patterson(AUS) 349, Nicola Geuer(GER) 350, Julia Glushko(ISR) 351, Marija Mirkovic(AUS) 361.

Men’s US$10,000 Futures:
Brydan Klein(AUS) 247, Sebastian Rieschick(GER) 284, Michael Venus(NZL) 304, Artem Sitak(RUS) 328, Dayne Kelly(AUS) 337, Sam Groth(AUS) 351, Colin Ebelthite(AUS) 356, Harri Heliovaara(FIN) 362, Rubin Statham(NZL) 393, Matt Reid(AUS) 415, Dane Propoggia(AUS) 604, Nima Roshan(AUS) 683, Joel Lindner(AUS) 711, Niki TAkuto(JPN) 758, Marcus Daniell(NZL) 770, Riccardo Sinicropi(ITA) 776, Ben Mitchell(AUS) 809, Leon Frost(AUS) 894.