Top tennis at the Sparkassen Trophy from Saturday

The Italian Federico Gaio, who reached the final of the Challenger tournament in Cortina last week, and the Bosnian Mirza Basic, who defeated top 50 player Jarkko Nieminen in the Davis Cup this year, are - at least on paper - the favorites of this year international Sparkassen Trophy, which will take place from August 9th to 16th at TC Rungg/Girlan. This traditional tournament is taking place in Überetsch for the 17th time.

Also worth noting at the Sparkassen Trophy are the 19-year-old Italian young hopeful Matteo Donati, the also 19-year-old Argentinian Pedro Cachin and the 21-year-old Belgian Joris De Loore, all three of whom are among the 50 best under-21 athletes in the world.

“This week there will be 17 futures held around the world. With entry lists at hand, we are the most heavily attended tournament during this period and certainly one of the best compared to the year,” explained tournament director Dietmar Pfeifer at the press conference in Bolzano.

35 ATP points for the winner

$15.000 in prize money and a total of 99 points for the ATP world rankings will be played out among tennis professionals from ten nations during the eight-day event - the winner will receive 35 ATP points. This year it is still a tournament in the highest futures category, i.e. a “Futures $15.000 + Hospitality”.

60 professionals from ten nations are pitching

Around 60 tennis professionals from all over the world will play in Rungg during the eight-day tennis event. The Sparkassen Trophy begins on Saturday, August 9th at 9 a.m. with the two-day qualification, which also represents an opportunity for South Tyrol's best tennis players to compete with professionals from all over the world.

“Of course we want as many South Tyroleans as possible to take part in our tournament. We'll wait until Friday at 12 p.m. to see whether a top 250 player reports. Otherwise our wild cards go to local players. But young players like Nicolussi, Winkler, Rieder, Weis, Pecoraro and Rispoli should also receive the wild cards for qualification,” said OC boss Christian Pfeifer.

If the organizers have their way, then last year's semi-finalist Patrick Prader (Barbian) will go through the qualification process - if he even plays in Rungg. “We have to see whether he would deprive another South Tyrolean of the chance of qualifying if he received a wild card. We haven’t heard anything from Patrick yet.”

The main field starts on August 11th

After qualification, the “real” tournament begins on Monday, August 11th for the 32-strong main field. The final is scheduled for Saturday, August 16th. The double final will be played on Friday, August 15th. The game is played all day in Rungg, with a top match taking place in the early evening.

As far as the supporting program is concerned, the public draw for the main field will take place on Sunday, August 10th from 11 a.m. as part of a white sausage breakfast pint. On Wednesday, August 13th, there will be the traditional sponsors and players evening. Finally, on the final day, before the men's final (11 a.m.), wheelchair tennis will be shown on the Center Court at 10 a.m. with the up-and-coming Jenesiener Ivan Tratter and the Kalterer Michael Stampfer. Tratter's big dream is to take part in the Paralympics in Rio 2016.

Sparkassen Trophy 2014, Entry List (as of ATP Ranking as of August 5th)

1 Federico Gaio (ITA), ATP 281 2 Mirza Basic (BIH), 289 3 Matteo Donati (ITA), 303 4 Yannik Reuter (BEL), 306 5 Pedro Cachin (ARG), 328 6 Marek Michalicka (CZE), 334 7 Juan Lizariturry (ESP), 341 8 Tomislav Brkic (BIH), 350 9 Theodoros Angelinos (GRE), 351 10 Maxime Texeira (FRA), 354 11 Joris De Loore (BEL), 358 12 Matteo Trevisan (ITA), 362 13 Robin Kern (GER), 369 14 Wilson Leite (BRA), 370 15 Marc Rath (AUT), 398 16 Constant Lestienne (FRA), 434 17 Salvatore Caruso (ITA), 495 18 Maxime Chazal (FRA), 531

+2 Wild Cards organizer +2 wild cards spring tennis +8 qualifiers +2 Special Exempt

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Top tennis at the Sparkassen Trophy from Saturday

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