Tennis: Top players hit Hamilton

There will have to be plenty of upsets in the first round of the US$15,000 ASB Men's International Futures tennis tournament in Hamilton today, if New Zealand players want to make an impact.

The draw has not been kind to the kiwis, with promising 16 yr-old Bay of Plenty junior Austen Childs set to face top seed Damian Patriarca of Argentina.

Childs was the upset player of the Australian Open junior draw in January, reaching the quarter-finals against the odds, but he will have his work cut out for him against Patriarca who plays a lot of Challenger events.

The Argentine won two Futures singles titles in 2005 and was a finalist in a Challenger event in Switzerland.

First up on court is Matt Simpson from North Harbour who is aiming for his first ATP singles ranking point. To get that he'll need to overcome Norwegian Stian Boretti.

Auckland's Martin Colenbrander, 17, will face qualifier Niklas Bucht of Finland and has perhaps the best chance of making the second round.

Colenbrander took his first round opponent to three sets in Blenheim but was unable to finish off the match when needed. Bucht can be inconsistent with his play at times.

Mark Nielsen, a beaten finalist in the event last year, will face qualifier Carsten Ball from Australia.

Nielsen is the third seed for the tournament and will play his match on day two.

Dan King-Turner, a semifinalist last week in Blenheim, plays eighth seed Felipe Parada of Chile while Oliver Statham has drawn Blenheim finalist Scott Lipsky.

Rubin Statham will come up against Australian Open junior finalist Nick Lindahl, also on day two.

In doubles, local Waikato players Sam Gould and Matt Stark play an Australian pair in the first round.

There's an all-kiwi clash as Childs and Colenbrander team up against talented Wairarapa junior Marcus Daniell and Wellington's Robert Foy while the Statham's, Oliver and Rubin, play their first round match.

Final round qualifying results:

Gary Sacks(RSA) bt Timo Nieminen(FIN) 6-1 1-6 6-3, Alexander Jakupovic(GRE) bt David To(AUS) 7-5 6-0, Adam Feeney(AUS) bt Konstantinos Kalaitzis(GBR) 4-6 6-2 6-1, Carsten Ball(AUS)bt Edward Seator(GBR) 6-1 6-0, Niklas Bucht(FIN) bt Alex Menichini(USA) 6-1 6-2, Matt Ebden(AUS) bt Ross Connolly(GBR) 6-2 6-1, Jurek Stasiak(AUS) bt Ben Lankenau(USA) 6-3 6-3, Andrew Roberts(AUS) bt Troy Gillham(AUS) 6-7(5) 6-4 6-0.