Kiwis in action at the ASB Classic to help Australia

Kiwi Grand Slam Champion, Michael Venus and ex-pat Kiwi Cameron Norrie will headline an action-packed Monday for the Men’s ASB Classic, whilst the night session offers up two mouth-watering contests.

Venus will feature as the second match on Centre Court taking on defending Champion Tennys Sandgren. The French Open Doubles Champion and Wimbledon finalist will play in the middle of the day when the courts will be at their hottest, and more importantly for the Kiwi, at their fastest. Sandgren showed his class last year on his march to the title and the pair will be squaring off for the first time since playing at the Futures and Challenger level in their younger days.

Venus will be followed by last year’s finalist, Cameron Norrie. Whilst Cameron now plays under the British flag, he is a product of the Tennis Auckland high performance programme and called Auckland home for the majority of his life. Norrie will play Thiago Monterio of Brazil.

Sixth seed Hubert Hurkacz, the talented Pol will kick off the Men’s week against Italian Lorenzo Sonego first up on Centre Court at 12pm.

With the Women’s week completely selling out, and tickets for the remainder of the Men’s week in hot demand, organisers have confirmed they will donate $20 for every remaining centre court ticket purchased for the Monday day session to the Australian Bushfire Relief.

“Us Kiwi’s like to help out our friends. With our kiwi star and an ex-pat kiwi on tomorrow’s day schedule, we thought it was a great way to help out our Aussie neighbours. With around 700 tickets remaining for tomorrow’s play, we could raise around $14,000 in addition to what we already have this fortnight” said Tournament Director Karl Budge.

The night session is set to be a stunner. First up is possibly the match of the round, as fifth seed Benoit Paire takes on someone who is widely tipped for the very top of our sport, in wildcard Jannik Sinner. At just 18 years old, Sinner has already made the semi-final’s of a tournament at this level and won the ATP Next Gen Finals in Milan. A player hasn’t come to Auckland with this much buzz and hype since Rafael Nadal visited as a 17-year-old. Sinner will play his first match against the gifted but unpredictable Frenchmen.

The second night match will be a showstopper with the always entertaining Frances Tiafoe taking on fellow 2019 ATP Next Gen Final’s player, Mikael Ymer. The two are considered the future of the ATP Tour and under the lights at the ASB Tennis Arena are set to entertain.

Don’t miss the chance to support fellow Kiwi Venus and ex-pat Kiwi Norrie in tomorrow’s first day of Men’s Week. Secure your seat today at Ticketek.co.nz

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