Local Players keen to follow in footsteps of Hewitt, Hopman, Court and Goolagong at WA Open
The WA Open is one of the few tournaments that can boast having the likes of Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Ken Rosewall, Frank Sedgeman, Harry Hopman and Lleyton Hewitt in its Hall of Fame. And now local rising stars are all vying for the much coveted trophy and a share in the $10k prize money.
The State’s most prestigious tournament, the WA Open, will run from 13-17 May at the State Tennis Centre, with qualifying events kicking off tomorrow.
South Australian Players, Darren Polkinghorne and Lawrence Bataljin are currently seeded 1 and 2 respectively in the men’s draw, with Polkinghorne currently ranked number 37 in Australia after recently returning from Futures Tournaments in Indonesia. The South Australian duo are currently contesting the Final of the Perth Platinum AMT for a share in $10k prize money. On a local level, 17 year old Perth rising star, Scott Jones, is seeded number 3 after recently reaching a career high Junior ITF ranking of 147 following a successful tournament campaign over the last 3 months in New Zealand and Malaysia. Jones is currently ranked number 94 in Australia and will be joined by another 11 fellow West Australians in the main draw, including Zach Itzstein (5), Jack Lyttle (6), Scott Webster (7) and Tristan Schoolkate (13). Schoolkate has had a successful few months after being a part of Australian Boys team who qualified for the Finals of the ITF World Junior Tennis competition after competing at the Asia/Oceania qualifying event in Bangkok, Thailand.
In the Women’s draw, 17 year old Perth National Academy Athlete, Maddison Inglis (WA) takes the top seed position after a dominant few months overseas. Inglis won both the singles and doubles titles at the 51st Brunei ITF Junior Circuit Grade 4 event in March and reached the Semi Finals of the 25th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup Grade 1 ITF Event in Kuching, Malaysia. Inglis’ recent results have seen her achieve a career high ITF Junior ranking of 57 in the world. Fellow West Aussie, Karis Ryan (WA), is seeded second after returning from tournaments in Launceston, Port Pirie, Mornington and Melbourne, whilst Marisa Gianotti (WA), Teiwa Casey (WA) and Anja Dokic (WA) are seeded third, fourth and fifth respectively. This should make for an interesting draw after Dokic recently defeated Ryan in the Perth Platinum AMT to tee up a Final against Casey.
Western Australia’s premier open tournament is rich in history with the men’s event being contested in 1895 and the ladies competition commencing in 1929.
The WA Open has attracted such champions such as Harry Hopman in 1931, Ken Rosewall in 1953 and more recently Lleyton Hewitt in 1998. The Ladies event has also brought such greats as Billie Jean King in 1968; Margaret Court, who won from 1969 through to 1971 and again in 1973 and 1975; and Evonne Goolagong, who claimed the title in 1972 and 1974, to Western Australia.
The WA Open offers platinum level Australian Ranking points and forms part of Tennis West’s Tournament Series. The tournament is held at the State Tennis Centre in Burswood and concludes on Sunday 17 May.
Latest
WA