Two Auckland students have been seeded to meet in one semifinal.
Aaron Hicks, the top seed, has played in Dunedin for the past few years and is the Otago Open titleholder, while Sam Shearer is a welcome newcomer. Shearer has attended some recent training sessions and looks to have a big serving power game.
By contrast, Ryan Eggers, the second seed, has the ability to switch from a fine touch game to powerful winners, and he is drawn to meet Carlos Reid at the semifinal stage.
However, there are some dangerous floaters with Paddy Ou, Mitchell Sizemore and Hamish Low all capable of going all the way.
Ou, a finalist in the Otago Open in March, could expect to meet Shearer in the second round, while Sizemore is in the same section as his training partner, Reid.
Low could get a workout from Peter Hartono, who has transferred to Queenstown for further coaching, and the winner is likely to play Eggers. Josh McDermott, Bjorn Pollock and Thomas Hartono are other Queenstown juniors who add interest and are testing themselves in open company.
A number of relatively unknown tertiary students, none of whom are highly ranked, will, however, add some variety.
Reid and Sizemore are first seeds in the doubles and Shearer and Low have been seeded second. Eggers and Ou are other contenders, while the father and son pairing Kobus and Christiaan Faber, who have entered only the doubles, could cause an upset.
Disappointingly, the women have continued the trend of avoiding tournament play and only four have entered, despite at least a dozen playing in the Monday night premier women's league.
Rileigh Fields, Eliza Booth and Amelia King are juniors and Heike Cebulla Elder is a veteran, and the winner is hard to pick. They will play a round robin.
Play begins at the Edgar Centre at 9am today, and the finals will begin from late tomorrow morning.
