KAARST, January 23, 2019

Defending champion Igor Sijsling will return to the 2019 Kirschbaum International. This was announced by the organizers of the ITF World Tennis Tour M15 event. The tournament will be held on carpet at the Tespo Sportpark from 4 to 10 February 2019 and offers a total prize money of $15,000.

The World No. 422 from the Netherlands clinched the title in Kaarst last year by beating German youngster Marvin Möller in straight sets. Sijsling, who reached a career-high at No. 52 in February 2014, will make his season debut and will be joined by a strong German contingent led by Marvin Netuschil. Robin Kern, Peter Torebko, Lucas Gerch, Dominik Böhler and Christoph Negritu will also be part of the line-up.

“Igor impressed a lot here last year and we are very happy to have him back,” said tournament director Marc Raffel.

Five spots in the main draw are reserved for junior players. “That makes our tournament particularly interesting,” Raffel commented. With Davor Svrcina and Jonas Forejtek, the current No. 11 and 13 of the Under 18 Junior World Rankings, two yougnsters from the Czech Republic will compete in the tournament.

For more information and tickets, please visit www.kirschbaum-international.de