Klintcharov, Rai show courage in ASB Classic qualifying

Ajeet Rai and Alex Klintcharov both left everything on the court in their qualifying matches at the ASB Classic on Saturday.

In one of the strongest draws at the Classic in recent memory, Rai and Klintcharov both went up against players with far higher rankings and had performances they can be proud of.

Rai, who is ranked 486, lost 6-4 6-2 to world No 79 Facundo Diaz Acosta from Argentina. 

Klintcharov, who earned his wildcard by being the runner-up at the wildcard playoff tournament in Te Anau, had an amazing first set against India’s Sumit Nagal, who is ranked 98, before losing 1-6 6-3 6-1.

Meanwhile, Isaac Becroft, the winner of the wildcard playoff tournament, will go up against the German Jan Leonard Struff in the first round.

Both wildcards have been given to Kiwis for the doubles. Marcus Daniell, in his final ever tournament, will partner with James Watt and they have been drawn against Roberto Carballes Baena from Spain and Italy’s Luciano Darderi.

The other wildcard pairs KP Pannu and Ajeet Rai and they’re up against the No 3 seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool.

Michael Venus and his Croatian partner Nikola Mektik are the top seeds and have been drawn to play Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez and Lucas Miedler from Austria.