Albergarian Open Preview
@ BCA Open Albergaria Tennis Centre - Albergaria, Costa de Ouro
Hello and Welcome to a special edition of Mercedini Sports Daily! Today, we coming to you from the Albergarian Open in Costa de Ouro where the draw for qualification and the first round have just been made and we will give you all of the lowdown in out reports a little later. Now that we have finally escaped the seemingly never-ending tunnel of World Cup Qualification, we can focus on other sports with plenty of speculation regarding managerial positions in the MPL, Exhibition Season results in the MSL and, of course, the news here in Albergaria. We will start with that with eight Mercedinians travelling to Albergaria in hope to pick up some silverware.
BCA Open Albergaria: Qualifiers & First Round Draw
The fourth leg of the Astyrian Tour will be kicking off shortly with four singles' players and two doubles' pairings in action in Costa de Ouro as they hope to pick up some silverware and those valuable ranking points as they aim to book a spot at their first NSTT World Tour Finals at the end of the year. After the first three legs, the Mercedinian contingency haven't made the splash they have wanted in one of the first tennis tournaments of the year. Cracik Almeronovic, Alexander Linip, Jonum Korlovia and Andrea Palmannerson will all make an appearance in Albergaria to get their name higher up the rankings. Almeronovic has automatically qualified as one of the highest ranking players at the tournament but he already knows who he is playing, so let's see who they will face in the Albergian Open:
As one of the highest raked players at the tournament, Cracik Almeronovic has bypassed the qualifiers and finds himself in the main draw. He is placed in the lower half of the draw and surprisingly he already knows his opponent for the first round and then his potential opponents in the second round should he win the first. He has been drawn against the New Gelderlandian fifth seed Stephanie Brown in what could be a feisty match between two players potentially fighting for the title. The winner of that match will play either Dani Mateus of Ndaku or Adam Gory from Schottia, it's sure to be a fiery draw with so many good players densely packed in the draw, we will see how it plays out, there could be a couple of shocks on the cards in this one.
Until recently, Andrea Palmannerson hasn't really had a good time playing international tennis and is ranked near the bottom of the Mercedinian rankings but she has since revived herself to be the 6th highest internationally ranked Mercedinian and is set to go higher should she pick up a couple of wins and qualify for the first round proper this time around. It should be said that players ranked 5th downwards nationally all have a chance of leaping above their compatriots with good performances at international events. She has been placed in Group 2 with The Serbian Emprie's Marisa Celeste Frieri, Tobiasia's Danny Wallson and Jurgen DiPasso from Neu Engellon.
Despite his sister's decision to take an indefinite break from tennis, Jonum Korlovia is back and will participate in the Albergarian Open in hope to increase his rank after it had fallen significantly over the last couple of months. He has currently fell two spots down to 7th place and is at risk of forfeiting his consideration for larger events if he doesn't increase his ranking and get back into the Top 5 nationally. In a fairly open group, he faces Jim Cowie from Schottia, Mihai Carolus Maro from Natanians and Nosts and finally the Serbian powerhouse of Jade Oreskovic. Many have tipped the Serb to clinch the group easily but a surprise could be on the cards with the other three players in the group hoping to steal the top spot or get a LL spot through to the first round.
Finally, Alexander Linip is the largest Mercedinian name in the qualifiers with the Mercedinian #4 expected to walk his qualifying group, playing against players we've never heard of. With a good campaign and about 200 points, Alexander Linip could jump all the way up to #2 which will no doubted increase his chances of being included I important tournaments such as Grand Slams, Tier 1 events or even the International Tennis Trophy Team. Linip has plenty of time to make an impression and climb up the rankings, he has been drawn with Jess Peterson from Tobiasia, Karina Gerard from Neu Engellon and Ethane's Edward Hinton.
Regarding doubles, once again Mercedini are guaranteed to have representation in the first round with the fitties Jack Parminus and Adam Stratesimov being drawn in the first round, they will play one of the qualifying doubles pairs, which will be a wild card for the Mercedinians as they could get anyone, we hope for an easy draw but we will only be sure once the results come in. They have also had a fairly fortunate draw as they have the lowest seed in the draw in Andrew Lamar and Jack Algernon in their draw. A good result could see them close the gap to the Tour Finals spots so there is plenty to anticipate for the first round draw.
Finally, and rounding up our coverage of the tennis is siblings Jonum and Johanna Korlovia who are the only Mercedinian pairing to participate in qualifying and have a fairly tough draw as they play Rikard Kampl and Dominika Lisicki from Mattijana who are well-known on the tennis tour and will provide the toughest challenge for the Mercedinians, they also play Niamh Livreson and Samanthe Berry who we have never heard of, apparently they're from Ethane again, dunno.
That rounds out our tennis coverage and with those in qualifying playing tomorrow, we will give you coverage of their matches and what that means for their title challenge. We would have given you more information about other developing stories in Mercedini but unfortunately we've ran out of time here in Costa de Oura. From here in Albergaria, have a great day!
