PETE ZIEBRON in TEMPE
Tournament Director Gary Nees and Arizona Sports & Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Alan Young have been on-site from start to finish on the opening days of the tournament. Charles Gabrean Photography
A little more than a month ago, the USTA Southwest Section sent out a tweet announcing the fact that men's professional tennis would return to Arizona in February. The drought would finally be over for tennis fans in the Grand Canyon State - the last men's tournament departed following play in 2005 for Las Vegas.
Since that time, the Goldwater Women's Classic was held at the Phoenix Country Club from 2009-2012 and the Surprise Women's Tennis Classic has been played in the West Valley since 2008.
Nicolas Jarry of Chile powers his way to the final round of qualifying. Charles Gabrean Photography
Yesterday, play got underway at the Whiteman Tennis Center on the camps of Arizona State University. The $75K Challenger features young American upstart Ernesto Escobedo as the #1 seed and 2014 Wimbledon doubles Champion Vasek Pospisil as the #4 seed in singles.
The plan will be to grow the tournament going forward. Despite a very late start in getting the event on the ATP calendar, the first two days of qualifying have run smoothly. Tennis aficionados in Phoenix have shown up to support the event over the weekend and larger numbers of spectators are expected throughout the week as the main draw gets underway.
The final round of qualifying gets underway tomorrow at 10 AM, followed by the opening round of the main draw at the Whiteman Tennis Center.
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