Melbourne, Australia, 16 November 2020 | Leigh Rogers

Sam Stosur and Thanasi Kokkinakis will make their competitive returns at a UTR Pro Tennis Series event in Melbourne this week.

Stosur, the US Open 2011 champion, has not played since March. The 36-year-old has spent the past eight months in Melbourne, relishing family time after the birth of her daughter in June.

Kokkinakis has been sidelined even longer, missing the Australian summer due to a serious bout of glandular fever. The 24-year-old’s last competitive appearance was at an ATP Challenger in America in September 2019.

They feature among a 14-player field for this week’s UTR Pro Tennis Series event, played at the National Tennis Centre. It is the first professional tennis tournament held in Victoria since June.

Former world No.20 Daria Gavrilova is the top seed in the women’s draw. The 26-year-old, who made the second round at Roland Garros last month, returned from a 12-month injury lay-off in September.

Stosur, Kokkinakis and Gavrilova have all been national representatives, including at the Olympic Games.

UTR Pro Tennis Series, Melbourne 
Men’s field Women’s field
Player UTR Player UTR
Thanasi Kokkinakis 15.03 Daria Gavrilova 12.52
Blake Mott 14.14 Storm Sanders 12.02
Harry Bourchier 13.88 Sam Stosur 11.96
Jacob Grills 13.69 Alana Parnaby 10.59
Joshua Charlton 13.36 [WC] Monique Barry (NZL) 10.28
Jai Corbett 13.29 [WC] Elena Micic 9.92
Omar Jasika 13.17
Matthew Romios 13.12

The round-robin event begins today and concludes with finals on Thursday. Strict biosecurity measures are in place to ensure the safety of players, including no fans on site.

All matches are streamed live on the Tennis Australia YouTube channel.

More UTR Pro Tennis Series events are planned for Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne over the next month, providing an opportunity for Australia’s top-ranked players to compete for $297,500 in prizemoney.

Upcoming UTR Pro Tennis Series events
Dates Venue
16 – 19 November Melbourne
17 – 20 November Sydney
21 – 24 November Melbourne
23 – 26 November Brisbane
30 November – 3 December Brisbane
3 – 6 December Sydney
7 – 11 December Brisbane
8 – 12 December Melbourne
14 – 18 December Sydney
15 – 19 December Brisbane

Rinky Hijikata and Ellen Perez headline the Sydney event, which begins tomorrow.

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