Wheelchair tennis’s best confirm places
The best of the best wheelchair tennis stars have confirmed their entries for the upcoming Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) series, to be played in Benoni and Johannesburg, next month.
No fewer than 23 of the world’s top 10 ranked players have entered the series, representing 17 countries.
These include two world number one players, Sabine Ellerbrock (Germany) in the women’s singles and David Wagner (USA) in the quads.
Both back-to-back tournaments form part of the prestigious International Tennis Federation (ITF) NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour and, other than prize money, the players will be battling on court for all important world ranking points.
The first tournament, the Grade One Airports Company South Africa Gauteng Open, will be played from April 23 to 27, at the Gauteng East Tennis Complex, at Benoni Lake.
The second event is the Airports Company South Africa SA Open, one of six Super Series events, which will be played from April 29 to May 2, at the Ellis Park Stadium, in Johannesburg.
Each tournament will include a men’s, women’s, quads and juniors’ event.
Top players entered include the men’s world number two, Stephane Houdet, of France.
Houdet is closing in on top ranked men’s player Shingo Kuneida, of Japan, beating him in five finals, last year.
His five titles in 2013 include Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open.
Houdet is the defending Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) SA Open champion and his stiffest competition should come from world number three Gordon Reid, of Great Britain.
Reid lost to Houdet in last year’s Airports Company South Africa SA Open final and won gold at the London Paralympics.
South Africa’s top ranked men’s player, Evan Maripa, ranked 15th in the world, will be the country’s best hope in the men’s singles.
In the women’s events, world champion Sabine Ellerbrock, who won the Australian Open in January, this year, will be strongly challenged by world numbers four and five, Aniek van Koot and Marjolein Buis, both of The Netherlands.
Van Koot was last year’s world number one and is the defending US Open champion, where she beat Ellerbrock in the final.
Buis is the defending Airports Company South Africa SA Open champion.
The local hopes for the women’s title will rest on KG Montjane, who is ranked seventh in the world.
South African quad star Lucas Sithole, ranked second in the world, will offer the biggest competition to the world’s top quad player, David Wagner, in the quads event.
Wagner, who won the Australian Open earlier this year over Sithole, lost to the South African in the final of last year’s US Open.
Andrew Lapthorne, of Great Britain, ranked third in world quads, will be a player both Wagner and Sithole will have to watch carefully in the draw.
He beat Sithole in the Ellis Park final, last year.
The junior event will be dominated by South African players who are, in any event, dominating the world rankings.
The entry is headed by world number four Thato Tsomole, of Hartebeespoort, with fellow South African’s Sean-Liam de Hilster and Thando Hlatswayo being his strongest opposition.
As a bonus to the series, both tournaments will be hosting a mixed event, which is new to world wheelchair tennis.
The aim of hosting the mixed event is to assist the ITF in preparation for the first ever mixed wheelchair tennis event being played at the next Paralympics, in Brazil.
