Ballarat’s Zoe Hives faces a tough task in Tuesday’s opening round of the Bendigo International Pro Tour event at the Bendigo Tennis Complex.
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Hives has been drawn to play eighth seed Liz Cabrera in the first roun dof the $US60,000 ITF event.
Hives is in good form after winning her second career singles title in Toowoomba earlier this month.
The victory lifted her world ranking to 313 – 85 places behind her first round opponent Cabrera.
Hives and Cabrera are in a tough section of the draw.
If one of them advances to the quarter-finals they’re likely to play number one seed Arina Rodionova.
Rodionova starts her campaign against China’s Shilin Xu on Wednesday.
Second seed Olivia Rogowska will also start her title quest on Wednesday. Rogowska, ranked 166 in the world, will play young Aussie Abbie Myers in the first round.
The final four places in the main draw will be decided on Tuesday morning.
The four winners of Tuesday’s qualifying matches will advance to the main draw.
Australia’s Astra Sharma has only dropped four games in her two qualifying matches and she’ll start favourite against Ukraine’s Marianna Zakarlyuk.
England’s Jodie Anna Burrage has looked just as impressive in qualifying and she tackles Bulgaria’s Gergana Topalova on Tuesday.
France’s Marine Partaud and Australia’s Masa Jovanovic will do battle for a main draw berth, while the final qualifying match is between Australia’s Anna Parnaby and Italy’s Verena Meliss.
Monday’s qualifying results:
Amy Stevens lt Marianna Zakarlyuk 1-6 1-6, Gergana Topalova dHaruna Arakawa 7-5 1-6 7-5, Erin Routliffe lt Verena Meliss 6-7 (6) 4-6, Jodie Anna Burrage d Petia Arshinkova 6-0 4-1 retired, Seone Mendez lt Alana Parnaby 2-6 5-7, Marine Partaud d Alexandra Osborne 6-0 6-2, Astra Sharma d Yuki Kristina Chiang 6-3 6-1, Zara Brankovic lt Masa Jovanovic 4-6 3-6.
Draw for Tuesday’s play:
Qualifying singles at 10am: Court 1 – Jodie Anna Burrage v Gergana Topalova. Court 2 – Marine Partaud v Masa Jovanovic. Court 3 – Astra Sharma v Marianna Zakarlyuk. Court 4 – Alana Parnaby v Verena Meliss. 2
Opening round of main draw singles – not before 11am: Court 1- Miyu Kato v Katy Dunne. Court 2 – Risa Ozaki v Destanee Aiava. Court 3 – Zoe Hives v Lizette Cabrera. Court 4 – Kaylah McPhee v Samantha Harris.
Opening round of doubles matches will start at the completion of the singles matches.