Tennis: Thompson leads race for last Open wildcard

Adam Thompson leads the way after day one in the four-man playoff for a wildcard at next month's New Zealand Open.

Thompson, 23, beat Dan King-Turner 6-4, 7-5 at Albany to reverse the result of a week ago in the Residentials final.

Thompson, ranked 801 in the world, now has eight points in the contest for the last wildcard into the Heineken-sponsored tournament. The winner of the other match was Rubin Statham, 18 and ranked at 633. He beat William Ward 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.

Statham faces Thompson today at 10am followed by King-Turner against Ward.

Fellow New Zealander Mark Nielsen already has a wildcard.

A place in the first round at the Open guarantees US$4000 ($5900) in prizemoney plus valuable ATP ranking points.