ORTISEI/STARNBERG, November 3, 2021
After two weeks on the carpets in Ismaning and Eckental, the ATP Challenger Tour in Europe will remain on fast surfaces when the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena Südtirol welcomes the players from November 7 to 12 to its 12th edition hosted by the Tennis Club Ortisei in South Tyrol, Italy.
The entry list is led by World No. 101 and local hero Andreas Seppi. The 37-year-old from Bolzano captured the title on home soil in 2013 and 2014. Seppi, however, had to deal with a hip injury after falling to Mikael Ymer in the second round of the qualifying at the Rolex Paris Masters.
“I don’t know yet whether I can play in Ortisei. I will decide it in the next few days,” said Seppi.
Recent Wolffkran Open champion Oscar Otte will be part of the line-up. The 28-year-old German claimed his third Challenger trophy in Ismaning and would like to continue his great run of form in Val Gardena.
Other players to watch include big servers such as Maxime Cressy from the United States, Mats Moraing of Germany and Marc-Andrea Huesler from Switzerland. Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco, who is competing in the Tenerife Challenger this week, told Tennis TourTalk that he is not sure yet whether he will travel to Italy or not.
On Tuesday, organizers of the ATP Challenger 80 tournament announced that home favourite Alexander Weis has been awarded a wild card into the main draw. Thanks to his title win on the ITF World Tennis Tour in Girona, Spain in late October, the 24-year-old from Bolzano has cracked the Top 500 of the ATP Rankings for the first time in his career.
Entry list Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena Südtirol
Andreas Seppi 101
Oscar Otte 126
Maxime Cressy 133
Quentin Halys 146
Emilio Gomez 149
Federico Gaio 151
Mats Moraing 155
Fernando Verdasco 165
Mikhail Kukushkin 177
Marc-Andrea Huesler 186
Alessandro Giannessi 192
Roberto Marcora 201
Gian Marco Moroni 202
Tim Van Rijthoven 234
Nicola Kuhn 238
Daniel Masur 241
Vitaliy Sachko 246
Mirza Basic 247
Chun-hsin Tseng 248
Dominic Stricker 258
Alexander Ritschard 260
Steven Diez 262
Borna Gojo 282
