Tennis South Africa (TSA) has confirmed the entries for the 2019 SA Spring Open tournament to be staged at Ellis Park Tennis Stadium in Johannesburg.
A STAR-STUDDED field of able-bodied and wheelchair tennis stars will assemble for the prestigious tournament from September 22 to 29.
The able-bodied ITF $15 000 Transition Tour and Wheelchair Tennis Grade II combined tournament has attracted over 100 players from 25 nations including France, Japan, Italy, Israel, Serbia, Curacao, Brazil, Australia, Netherlands, India, Denmark and more.
The inaugural SA Spring Open international tournament is sponsored by Vision View Productions.
Able-bodied:
The South African women’s field will be headed by the country’s top ranked player Chanel Simmonds against an all-star women’s line-up, including Caroline Romeo from France, Dutch world number 757 Merel Hoedt and India’s Zeel Desai. Megan Basson and Mbali Langa are two local South African juniors who are also set to feature.
Heading up the men’s field will be world number 413 Tom Jomby from France, who will be looking to hunt his first title in South Africa. Behind Jomby will be 26-year-old Benjamin Lock, from Zimbabwe who is no stranger to South Africa, Austria’s David Pichler, American Alec Adamson and Alexander Donski from Bulgaria who was a member of the Bulgarian team who faced South Africa in the Davis Cup tie this past weekend.
The top five aces will be the strongest opposition for South Africa’s Lance-Pierre du Toit and junior stars, Charl Morgan, Joubert Klopper and Kholo Montsi, who will all be aiming to stop any overseas players hopes of running away with the points during the event.
Wheelchair Tennis:
In the men’s event, South African former world number 11 Evans Maripa who will spearhead the country’s charge will be hoping to keep the crown at home. Other South African hopefuls includes Leon Els and rising star Alwande Sikhosana.
The three aces will face strong opposition from current Dutch world number 9 Tom Egberink, world number 19 Frederic Cattaneo from France and world number 30 Austria’s Nico Langmann.
Spearheading the women’s challenge will be Wimbledon semi-finalist Kgothatso Montjane. The world number 5 from Seshego in Limpopo will be the highest ranked player in the tournament and will be the tournament favourite.
Other notable players in the women’s competition includes Mariska Venter, Emmanuel Morch and Charlotte Fairbank both from France and reigning Soweto Open champion Busra Un from Turkey.
In the quads event, two-time grand slam champion Lucas Sithole will have to pit himself against former world number 1 Shraga Weinberg and compatriot Donald Ramphadi who are among the three top-ranked quads players set to contest for the quads crown.