12 March 2016 | Tennis ACT

ACT players Imogen Clews, Kaitlin Staines, and Sarina Kang have all fallen in the first round of qualifying at the ACT Claycourt International #1. The $25,000 Pro Tour event got underway today at the Canberra Tennis Centre.

Clews came up against Brooke Winley (NSW), getting off to a good start taking the first set 6-2. Clews looked in control going up an early break in the second, however Winley managed to gain the break back and fought back to take the second set 7-5. Winley proved too strong in the third set, taking it 6-3 to progress to the second round of qualifying.

16 year old Kaitlin Staines played Queensland’s Daniela Kovacevic, with Kovacevic taking the first set comfortably, 6-2. Staines broke early in the second to go out to a 2-0 lead, but Kovacevic broke straight back. The pair traded service breaks for most the set, before it was locked up at 5-5. Kovacevic secured the break, then held serve to close out the match.

Sarina Kang played Western Australian Jelena Stojanovic. With Stojanovic ranked 1168 in the WTA rankings and 41 in Australia, she proved too strong for Kang dropping just one game on her way to victory.

Tomorrow will see all 16 qualifying seeds in action, after they received a first round bye. Tammi Patterson (Vic) and Maddison Inglis (WA) who both received main draw wildcards into the Australian Open 2016 will be among the Australian’s in qualifying action.

Entry into the Canberra Tennis Centre is free, with qualifying continuing on Sunday and Monday at 10am. Main draw will commence on Tuesday 15 March at 10am. Tournament draws and the order of play can be found here

The ACT Claycourt International #1 and #2 will be held at the Canberra Tennis Centre from March 12-27. Each tournament will offer $25,000 in prizemoney and will be held on the recently redeveloped European clay courts.

The tournaments were announced in May, 2015 as part of the Tennis ACT calendar of events secured through the redevelopment of the Canberra Tennis Centre.

The redeveloped Canberra Tennis Centre features 28 tennis courts – including synthetic grass, Italian clay and hardcourt surfaces – as well as four ANZ Tennis Hot Shots courts.

For more information about the Australian Pro Tour visit tennis.com.au/protour