Two Kiwis secure qualifying wildcards for men's ASB Classic

Ajeet Rai has been given a qualifying wildcard for the men’s ASB Classic and has joined Alex Klintcharov in the draw.

Klintcharov secured his wildcard by finishing the runner-up at the recent playoff tournament to Isaac Becroft and it looked like he’d be the only Kiwi playing in qualifying.

However, a second one became available when 19-year-old American Nishesh Basavareddy made it into the draw off his own ranking.

Rai is currently ranked 486 in the world, while KP Pannu is at 491. By winning the ITF tournament in Wellington last month, Rai picked up 15 ranking points, which moved him ahead of Pannu in the rankings.

Rai is playing in the second match on Grandstand court tomorrow against Facundo Diaz Acosta from Argentina, who is ranked 79 in the world.

Klintcharov will play against India’s Sumit Nagal, who has a world ranking of 98. This will be the third match on Court 2.

However, if the weather forecast is bad in the morning, matches will be moved to indoor courts.

Becroft will find out who he’ll play when the main draw is made at 1pm on Saturday.