Stellenbosch, South Africa – Tennis South Africa (TSA) announced the seeds for the Digicall Futures 3 on Monday (today).
The Digicall Futures 3, to be played in Stellenbosch from Tuesday 17 November with the final played on Sunday 22 November at the Maties Tennis Club on the University of Stellenbosch sporting grounds will be the final of three tournaments in the Digicall Futures Series. The Digicall Futures 1 was played from 3 – 8 November with the men’s singles title going to South African Nik Scholtz and the womens title was won by Namibia’s Lesedi Jacobs. The Digicall Futures 2 was played from 10 – 15 November, where Austrian Lucas won the men’s singles and Zimbabwe’s Valeria Bhunu the women’s singles.
The qualifying rounds for this week’s event was played from Saturday 14 November with the final qualifying ending today (Monday). The Digicall Futures 3 sees players from 12 different countries taking part with both the men’s and the women’s 32 player draws.
The men’s seeds are led by Pascal Brunner of Austria who is currently ranked 396 on the ATP World Tour Rankings. Brunner led the seeding in the Digicall Futures 1 where he reached the finals and the Digicall Futures 2 where he reached the semifinals.
Brunners is seeded to meet South African Davis Cup player Nik Scholtz in the final. Capetonian and rising South African star who is in his last year as a junior, Lloyd Harris is seeded fourth. Scholtz and Harris are ranked 414 and 492 respectively.
The only other South African man to make the men’s seeding’s is Keith-Patrick Crowley, also from Cape Town, who is seeded 7.
Hungarian Naomi Totka who is top seed in this week’s Digicall Futures 3 was also the top women’s seed in the Digicall Futures 1 and 2 events. Totka is currently ranked 395 on the WTA Rankings and was winner of the Egypt Futures in April this year. Totka reached the quarterfinals of the Digicall Futures 1 and 2 tournaments.
Seeded to meet Totka in next Sunday’s final is Francesca Stephenson of Great Britain who is currently ranked 605.
Two South African women have made the women’s seeding’s. South African Fed Cup squad member Ilze Hattingh is seeded 3 and Madrie Le Roux is seeded 6. Both are ranked 693 and 747 respectively on the WTA Rankings.
The seeds were announced as follows;
Men:
1. Pascal Brunner (Aut)
2. Nik Scholtz (RSA)
3. Lucas Miedler (Aut)
4. Lloyd Harris (RSA)
5. Javier Pulgar-Garcia (Esp)
6. James Marsalek (GBR)
7. Keith-Patrick Crowley (RSA)
8. Luca Pancaldi (Ita)
Women:
1. Naomi Totka (Hun)
2. Francesca Stephenson (GBR)
3. Ilze Hattingh (RSA)
4. Katharina Hering (Ger)
5. Luisa Marie Huber (Ger)
6. Madrie Le Roux (RSA)
7. Alexandra Riley (USA)
8. Amelie Intert (Ger)
The wildcards were announced as follows;
Men;
Wesley Whitehouse (NZL)
Rossouw Norval (RSA)
Yaseen Ibrahim (RSA)
Lance-Pierre Du Toit (RSA)
Women;
Shannon Cox (RSA)
Lesedi Jacobs (Nam)
Ciney Bekker (RSA)
Corin De Waal (RSA)