The preliminary player acceptance list for the City of Onkaparinga ATP Challenger 2015 has been released with South Australian Luke Saville set to join a star-studded international field, including four top 100 players, lining up for the event from 3 January.
Saville comes into the main draw as the highest ranked Australian player, with a current world ranking of No.165. Saville, who hails from Barmera in the Riverland, has won six ITF Futures titles in his career, including three in 2014. The 20-year-old has also shown solid results on the ATP Tour this year, with a standout first round win at Wimbledon where he defeated Dominic Thiem (AUT).
Joining Saville in the field will be Slovenian world No.80 Blaz Rola. Rola is the highest ranked player in the field, sitting just ahead of previously-announced crowd favourite Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) at world No.85. Rola holds nine ITF Futures titles, along with one ATP Challenger title won at Guangzhou earlier this year. In a sign of what’s to come, Rola came close to defeating Spaniard Fernando Verdasco at the 2014 US Open, but was eventually defeated in five sets.
2009 Wimbledon boys singles champion Andrey Kuznetsov will also be a player to watch in the event. The world No.92 took his first top 10 win against David Ferrer (ESP) at Wimbledon in 2014 in five sets, with the win propelling him into the third round of a Grand Slam event for the first time. The 23-year-old Russian is a five-time ATP Challenger singles champion who will be looking for a sixth title at the City of Onkaparinga ATP Challenger 2015.
Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) rounds out the players ranked inside the top 100. The 32-year-old former world No.12 holds four ATP singles titles.
“We are obviously thrilled to announce such a strong field of players planning to come to the City of Onkaparinga ATP Challenger 2015,” said Tournament Director Dylan Hicks.
“It is very exciting that in its first year this event has been able to draw such a highly ranked field of players. The countdown to the event is on, with Happy Valley Tennis Club and tournament staff in final preparations for the tournament starting on 3 January,” Hicks added.
City of Onkaparinga ATP Challenger 2015
Player acceptance list as at 17 December 2014
| Name | Country | ATP Ranking |
| Albot, Radu | MDA | 168 |
| Andreozzi, Guido | ARG | 186 |
| Baghdatis, Marcos | CYP | 85 |
| Broady, Liam | GBR | 195 |
| Chung, Hyeon | KOR | 173 |
| Fucsovics, Marton | HUN | 162 |
| Ghem, Andre | BRA | 166 |
| Harrison, Ryan | USA | 189 |
| Kuznetsov, Andrey | RUS | 92 |
| Mathieu, Paul-Henri | FRA | 97 |
| Melzer, Gerald | AUT | 163 |
| Molchanov, Denys | UKR | 175 |
| Moriya, Hiroki | JPN | 146 |
| Nedovyesov, Aleksandr | KAZ | 129 |
| Nishioka, Yoshihito | JPN | 153 |
| Odesnik, Wayne | USA | 171 |
| Petzschner, Philipp | GER | 192 |
| Puetz, Tim | GER | 185 |
| Rola, Blaz | SLO | 80 |
| Russell, Michael | USA | 159 |
| Saville, Luke | AUS | 165 |
| Viola, Matteo | ITA | 188 |
| Zhang, Ze | CHN | 183 |
| Zopp, Jurgen | EST | 187 |
Please note list is subject to change
Background
The City of Onkaparinga ATP Challenger 2015 will take place at the Happy Valley Tennis Club, Aberfoyle Park, Adelaide from 3-11 January 2015.
Entry to the event from 3-9 January will be free of charge. Tickets for Saturday, 10 January and Sunday, 11 January will start from $3.00 and can be purchased from the gate.
For more information on the Australian Pro Tour or Tennis Australia visit www.tennis.com.au. For more information on the ATP Challenger Tour visit www.atpworldtour.com.
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