Southerner gets qualifying tennis wild card
Wild cards for local players
Ntokozo Zungu, from the South, received qualifying wild card for week one of the Ilana Kloss International.
Others include Kelly Arends, Katie Poluta, Delien Kleinhans and Isabella Kruger.
South African top female player Chanel Simmonds and rising star Zoe Kruger head the list of women receiving wild cards for the first week of the two back-to-back Women’s ITF $25 000 World Tour events at the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus.
Simmonds, ranked number 336, narrowly missed the direct entry cut-off, but nonetheless is set to lead the South African charge again.
The 28-year-old reached the quarter-final round in the first week of the tournament last year after losing to Brit Samantha Sharan.
She advanced to the last-eight stage in the second week before the tournament was cancelled mid-way through due to the onset of the pandemic.
Rising Star Zoe Kruger was also awarded a wild card, as well as Suzanie Pretorius. That boosted South Africa’s main-draw representation to three players.
The two tournaments will be Kruger’s first competitive action of 2021. She last played the W15 Monastir in Tunisia in November 2020.
Pretorius was awarded a main draw wild card by the North-West University as part of its reciprocal agreement with Tennis South Africa (TSA).
The first week of the Ilana Kloss International runs from February 8 to February 14.
The second week takes place from February 15 to February 21.
Both events will take place in a bio-secure bubble, under strict Covid-19 protocols.
