WTA TENNIS NEWS•SIMONA HALEP ACCEPTS WILDCARD INTO EASTBOURNE

Written by: Staff on 22nd June 2017

WTA TENNIS NEWS•SIMONA HALEP ACCEPTS WILDCARD INTO EASTBOURNE |

World No.2 Simona Halep [ROM] will make her Devonshire Park debut, accepting a wildcard into the Aegon International Eastbourne, 23 June – July 1.

The Eastbourne women’s draw now boasts eight of the world’s top 10 players including world No.1 Angelique Kerber [GER], No.2 Halep, No.3 Karolina Pliskova [CZE], No.6 and defending champion Dominica Cibulkova, and Eastbourne resident and world No.7 Johanna Konta.

Halep has enjoyed a strong run of form in recent weeks, winning the Madrid title and reaching the finals at Roland Garros and Rome. And, with the Romanian currently trailing Kerber by just 115 points for the No.1 world ranking, and Pliskova hot on their heels 275 points behind Kerber, there will be everything to play for when the players take to the court for the penultimate women’s event on this summer’s British grass court calendar.

“I am very much looking forward to playing in Eastbourne,” said 25-year-old Halep. “The quality of the draw is very high so I’m hoping for some great matches to give me the best possible preparation ahead of Wimbledon.”

Eastbourne will be Halep’s first grass court tournament this season after she withdrew from last week’s Aegon Classic Birmingham due to a right ankle injury. She’ll be bidding to recapture the grass court form that saw her reach the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2014, the quarterfinals in Birmingham in 2015, and the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2016.

“It’s great to have another member of the top 10 fighting it out for this year’s title,” said Tournament Director Gavin Fletcher. “Simona is one of the most exciting players to emerge onto the WTA Tour in recent years and we look forward to watching her bring her classic counter-punching style to bear on Devonshire Park’s grass courts.”

A WTA Premier tournament, the Aegon International women’s event runs in parallel with an ATP 250 event which has also attracted an exceptionally strong draw that includes two-time Eastbourne champion Feliciano Lopez, 2010 Wimbledon hero John Isner, and British stars Kyle Edmund and Aljaz Bedene.

There are still a limited number of Centre Court tickets available on Monday 26 June and Tuesday 27 June, with Court 1 and ground passes still available throughout the week.

Centre Court tickets are currently sold out from Wednesday 28 June to Saturday 1 July. Any returned tickets will be available via aegoninternational.co.uk. We strongly advise fans to purchase tickets in advance as it’s likely only Court 1 tickets and ground passes will be available for purchase on the day once the tournament begins.

Court 1 ticket holders are set to enjoy a cracking schedule from Monday 26 June to Thursday 29 June with a mix of main draw singles and doubles matches and some great seats still available, priced from £28.

Topics: AEGON International, Eastbourne tennis news, Simona Halep, Tennis News, Wta