Soweto gears up for tennis feast
18 March 2010
Unlike last year, when the two tournaments were played on consecutive weeks, this year's Soweto Open for both men and women will be staged from 12 to 17 April. The tournament will again be staged at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Grounds in Jabavu, Soweto.
Each tournament will carry prize money of R750 000 and will provide free hospitality to main-draw players.
As in 2009, both events will be sponsored by the City of Johannesburg. Johannesburg Mayor Amos Madondo said: "The City of Joburg takes pride in hosting a sporting event of this magnitude.
"This is meant to provide a platform for the city to introduce youth to tennis as a sporting code, promote Soweto as a geographic location of interest, enhance social cohesion, expose the local people to international talent and experience, promote Gauteng and Joburg as a cultural and sport destination of choice."
'It makes a lot of sense'
Commenting on the decision to play the two events at the same time, tournament director Gavin Crookes said: "It makes a lot of sense to play the two events concurrently.
"It is not only logistically a more sensible move, but it is also far more cost-effective. We are also hoping that by combining the two tournaments we will also attract many more spectators to the tennis centre."
Last year the men's event, in particular, attracted a strong field with Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, playing in his final year on the ATP Tour, taking top honours by defeating unseeded South African Rik de Voest in the final.
The women's title went to 19-year-old Anastasia Sevastova of Latvia, who comfortably beat the Czech Republic's Eva Hrdinova 6-2, 6-2 in the final. It was her first professional title.
Sevastova has since gone to better things and just two weeks ago beat former world number one Jelena Jankovic on her way to reaching the semifinals of a WTA tournament in Monterey. She is currently at a career-high ranking of 63.
'The goal is to grow the game'
After last year's Soweto Men's Open, South African Tennis Association (Sata) CEO Ian Smith reflected on the venue, the Arthur Ashe Tennis Complex, and said it was an important location for an ATP event to take place. "The goal is to grow the game," he explained, "and Soweto represents a major part of our history, which makes staging the tournament here an appropriate one.
"The City of Johannesburg, Gauteng government and the National Lottery have backed Sata, and the Arthur Ashe Tennis Complex is a fine development in that regard."
The men's tournament is an ATP Challenger Series event, while the women's event forms part of the ITF Pro Circuit and falls under the auspices of the International Tennis Federation, although it also carries WTA ranking points.
Both singles draws will comprise 32 players, with 24 direct entries, four qualifying spots and four wild cards. The qualifying draw also contains 32 players. Both qualifying tournaments take place on Saturday, 10 April, and Sunday, 11 April.
The two doubles draws will comprise 16 teams each.
Both doubles finals take place on Friday, 16 April, while the singles finals take place the following day, Saturday, 17 April.
SAinfo reporter
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