The 2017 Otago Indoor Tennis Open has attracted the largest field in its 30-year history and the titles look to be wide open.
Ten players ranked in the top 100 in the country are among the fields for this weekend’s event. The 64 players entered, 47 men and 17 women, is well up on the 20 men and eight women from last year.
The event was cancelled five years ago, due to lack of numbers but major changes, including new formats and fresh sponsorship has drawn entries from as far as Auckland, Taranaki, Canterbury and Southern Lakes, as wellas students from around the country who are studying in Dunedin.
The event, coming before major exams and outside club competitions, has proved popular for those seeking early- season match play.
"Restricting the main draw entries seems to have had the opposite effect," said tournament director Ahmad Abdul-Rahman.
"The flood of entries now makes it one of the biggest in the South Island and has introduced logistical challenges.
"It’s a good problem to have, though, and we have been working hard to accommodate them all."
The Sunday has been classified as finals day. Lower grade finals will be played in the morning, before the main draw finals, to be played consecutively on a show court, flanked by corporate tables, from 10.30am.
The men’s singles could go to any one of a dozen players but top seeding has gone to Timaru schoolboy James Watt, who stands at 2.06m and has the power to match. He has travelled throughout Australia and the Pacific, as well as New Zealand, to gain ranking points and has the aim of a top American college career.
Canterbury’s Nic Jenkins ranks next. He has won two national school team titles and made the top eight masters’ play offs. He is studying law in Christchurch.
Paddy Ou heads the Otago challenge. He has been runner up in four Otago tournaments but has won the doubles in this event twice.
Peter Hartono, formerly from Otago, but now training in Queenstown, rounds out the top four. He has been ranked in the leading four for his age and also has designs on a college career.
Others who could win include Dunedin player Carlos Reid and Charlie Tomlinson, the former twice Auckland Grammar champion, and current Otago Open titleholder, now studying in Dunedin.
Ryan Eggers has struggled with an injury but has doubles titles to his credit, and Josh McDermott is a member of last year’s South Island champion school Wakatipu High School.The absence of former Otago Open winner and last year’s runner-up Mitchell Sizemore is unfortunate. He has a commitment out of town.
The women’s top seed is Tessa McCann from Ashburton. She is the current Canterbury secondary schools’ singles and doubles champion and has reached as high as fourth nationally for her age. Megan Rogers, who hailed from Waikato, but is now in Dunedin, has held world ITF junior rankings, as well as an Open doubles ranking, and is seeded second. She won the Queenstown Open. Victoria Hartland (17), an ex-Cantabrian who still bleeds red and black, now lives and plays in Auckland and is third seed.
Another Aucklander, Aimee Brown, only 14, trains in the St Kentigern College academy and helped her school to third place nationally.
Other hopes include Otago’s Rileigh Fields, Aucklander Emma Barclay and one who could surprise them all, Isabella Stone, an American student at Otago, who has shown up in early season hit-outs. Otago teen Ilana Goossens could also make some progress.
Play starts today at 4pm in the Edgar Centre, with qualifying rounds in all grades.
