{"id":27328,"date":"2025-09-09T10:46:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T00:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/?p=27328"},"modified":"2025-09-09T11:41:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T01:41:36","slug":"tamworth-and-wagga-wagga-itfs-kick-off-as-local-and-international-talent-compete-on-the-pro-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/news\/2025\/09\/09\/tamworth-and-wagga-wagga-itfs-kick-off-as-local-and-international-talent-compete-on-the-pro-stage","title":{"rendered":"Tamworth and Wagga Wagga ITF’s kick off as local and international talent compete on the pro stage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
He once had to pinch himself after receiving a hug and a trophy from Evonne Goolagong Cawley, and now Charlie Pade will have the chance to take the next step in his career in the first professional event held in Tamworth.

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Hailing from a few hours away on the coast at Coffs Harbour, Pade has won his way into the final round of qualifying for the ITF\u2019s Capital of Country International in regional NSW.

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Pade, who previously won the National Indigenous Tennis Carnival which came with a presentation from Australian tennis royalty Goolagong Cawley, was one of the highlights as blasted his way into the final round of qualifying with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Christopher Sousou on Monday.

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It sets up a clash with Connor McEvoy on Tuesday for the right to reach the main draw in the $30,000 event.

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Pade, 20, is trying to find his feet at a professional level and score valuable world rankings points at the Capital of Country International, which will feature former top 200 talent Dane Sweeny and veteran Marc Polmans as the leading two seeds.

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Polmans has been drawn against rising teenage star Cruz Hewitt, the son of Australia\u2019s former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt, in the opening round.

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Qualifying at Tamworth was briefly delayed by rain on Monday with the final spots in the main draw to be decided on Tuesday, which will also include the start of the tournament proper.

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In Wagga Wagga, 18-year-old Elizabeth Ivanov notched the biggest upset of qualifying on Monday after sweeping past Helena Guan in straight sets.

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Ivanov wasted little time racing to a 6-3, 6-2 win to set up a showdown with Natalie Barbir for a spot in the main draw.

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Qualifying for the Wagga Wagga Tennis International will finish on Tuesday before first round matches get underway, highlighted by No.1 seed Lizette Cabrera facing Japan\u2019s Ayumi Miyamoto.

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Cabrera has climbed the world rankings in 2025 to be on the cusp of the top 200 and can enhance her cause with a deep run through the draw in NSW\u2019s Riverina region this week.

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No.2 seed Taylah Preston will also be in action on Joe Schipp Court against Gurmanat Kaur Sandhu in singles, before she teams up with Cabrera in the doubles section later in the day.

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It\u2019s the first time Tennis NSW has taken professional tournaments to Tamworth and Wagga Wagga with back-to-back tournaments to be played in the regional centres over the next fortnight.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He once had to pinch himself after receiving a hug and a trophy from Evonne Goolagong Cawley, and now Charlie Pade will have the chance to take the next step in his career in the first professional event held in Tamworth. Hailing from a few hours away on the coast at Coffs Harbour, Pade has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6323,"featured_media":27329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6323"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}