The 2017 Maxim Financial Wellington Tennis Open starts today with early round matches and runs until Sunday at the Renouf Tennis Centre with both of the mens and womens top players using the tournament as good build up for other events.
No.1 womens seed, Julia Glushko from Israel is ranked 250 in the world having been as high as 79 a couple of years ago and is currently playing a pro event in Australia. If she keeps on winning shell have to skip the tournament in Wellington. Her coach, former New Zealand Davis Cup player Sebastian Lavie has already had to withdraw from the Renouf Centre hosted event as a result of the clash.
Glushko reached the third round of the US Open in 2013 and the French Open in 2014 and has had wins over a number of top 25 ranked players. She also has eight ITF singles titles and 11 ITF doubles titles to her credit. If she makes it back to Wellington shell be well worth the effort to watch.
Meanwhile mens top seed and defending champion, Rubin Statham ranked 382 in the world has been playing in Australia and is using Wellington as preparation for Davis Cup against South Korea in Auckland the following week.
Marcus Daniell at a career-high doubles ranking of 42 is coming home from the big Miami Masters and is also using the tournament as good preparation for Davis Cup. Daniell recently reached the final of the Sao Paulo ATP event in Brazil. He won the singles title in Wellington in 2008, but doubles is his primary career path now.
