Japanese trio Nao Hibino, Miyu Kato and Risa Ozaki will headline the USD$60,000 ACT Claycourt International #1 set to commence at the Canberra Tennis Centre on Saturday 17 March.
Hibino has been ranked as high as No.56 in the world and boasts two wins over Australia’s Samantha Stosur, the most recent coming in January 2018 at the Taiwan Open. She has spent the majority of the past three years inside the world’s top 100 and will be looking to add to her collection of eight ITF titles.
Kato and Ozaki have both experienced success in Canberra with Kato winning the 2016 ACT Claycourt International #2 while Ozaki won the 2016 Apis Canberra International.
Kato hit a career high ranking of No.122 in January this year and has shown her confidence on clay after qualifying for her first Grand Slam at the 2017 French Open.
2017 was a standout year for Ozaki who reached a career high ranking of No.70 and played in all four Grand Slams, winning her opening round at the US Open. She posted wins over Lucie Safarova (CZE) and Sorana Cirstea (ROU), and came through qualifying to make the fourth round of the Premier level Miami Open where she defeated Kiki Bertens (NED) and Julia Goerges (GER).
Australia’s hopes will be led by Fed Cup representatives Lizette Cabrera (Qld) and Destanee Aiava (Vic) who will return to the capital after last month’s Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group II victory over Ukraine.
Alison Bai (ACT) will lead the local charge, while fellow Canberra players Tallulah Farrow, Annerly Poulos, Ashleigh Simes, Matina Ujdur and Nornaaah Sharmaa are currently on the alternate list and will hope to get a start in qualifying.
ACT Claycourt International tournament director Lenka Greenhalgh is looking forward to a great few weeks of tennis.
“We are pleased to have such a high quality international field in Canberra with 11 countries represented at the event. Hibino and Ozaki are both former top 100 players and the field includes a number of young Australian rising stars.
“The next fortnight is a great opportunity to highlight women’s tennis in Canberra and we encourage the ACT community to come down and watch some quality tennis”
The ACT Open also commenced at the Canberra Tennis Centre today. A Women’s Platinum Australian Money Tournament (AMT) and Men’s Silver AMT will offer an additional $6500 in prizemoney. World No. 249 Sherazad Reix (FRA) is the top seed with Canberra’s Alison Bai the second seed. The men’s draw will be led by Jake Delaney (NSW) and local teenager Jamieson Nathan.
About the ACT Claycourt International
The ACT Claycourt International #1 and #2 will take place at the Canberra Tennis Centre from 18 March – 1 April 2018. The ACT Claycourt International #1 is a USD$60,000 ITF Women’s Pro Circuit event while the #2 is a USD$25,000 ITF Women’s Pro Circuit event.
Entry to the Canberra Tennis Centre is free with a gold coin donation on finals day raising funds for the ACT Pizzey Cup team.
Full tournament information is available here.
The events will inspire and show case women’s sport in the capital through a range of off court activities including a Women in Business Sport and Leadership Networking session on Friday 23 March and a Girls Make Your Move day on Sunday 25 March.
Latest
ACT