The 36th edition of the ITF Futures Open Kiroleta-'Bakio Udala 'Saria, the dean of Basque tennis tournament that awards points for the ATP world ranking, is underway after being presented at the Hotel Carlton in Bilbao. The tournament starts this Sunday, June 27 with the dispute of the Preliminary Phase and will last until July 3, the date on which the final will be played. “We want fans to be able to come to Bakio to watch professional tennis live and for free, and to enjoy tennis players that we will soon be able to see on the best courts in the world, such as Roberto Bautista or Alejandro Davidovich, who were runners-up at the Kiroleta Open. ”, Said Igor Del Busto, tournament director.
The names that head the list of favorites to wear the ‘txapela’ are the Japanese Hiroki Moriya (260 ATP), and the French Hugo Grenier (264), They will start as seeded on opposite sides of the table. The Asian already knows what it is to defend his country in the Davis Cup, he has participated in recent years in the final tables of the US Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open, and will look for points that allow him to approach the 143rd position in the ATP , which he reached a few years ago. For his part, Grenier lands in Bakio very close to his best ranking and wanting to remove the thorn from the last two editions of the tournament, in which he was runner-up. Montbrison's tennis player wants the third time to be the charm and raise his arms in Bakio. The third in contention will be the American Christian Harrison (292), who faces the Kiroleta Open loaded with morale after his recent triumph in the ITF 25,000 in Florida (USA). The Little Rock tennis player arrives in Bizkaia after playing the ATP250 preview on the Eastbourne grass with the aim of climbing the rankings and getting closer to the final tables of the Grand Slam, something he already achieved in Wimbledon (2018) and Australia ( 2017) .The Spanish participation is led by two tennis players who have taken the measure of the Bakiotarra court well, as is the case of Roberto Ortega, 306 in the world ranking and the only player to win the Kiroleta Open twice in a row since the tournament has been assigned to the international circuit. The Getafense won the 2017 editions, against Davidovich, and in 2018, against Grenier. Adrián Menéndez from Marbella (296 ATP), runner-up at the Open Kiroleta in 2016, also knows Bakio's greenset well. with almost thirty ITF titles and the background that comes from having played final draws at Wimbledon, Australian Open and US Open. At 35, he has reached the 104th position of the ATP and has 18 seasons on the world circuit.
International participation is expanded with 'outsiders' who promise to give war such as the Japanese Kaichi Uchida (346), the Monegasque Lucas Catarina (341), with two individual titles achieved in 2021 or the Frenchman Rayane Roumane, winner in 2014 of' Les Petit As', unofficial world championship for children, who has in his record the names of Rafa Nadal, Michael Chang or Juan Carlos Ferrero. It should also be noted the presence in Bakio of many other players with Davis Cup experience such as the Japanese Rio Noguchi (437), the Israelis Ben Patael (403) and Edam Leshem, the Belgian Antoine Bellier (513), or Benjamin Lock of Zimbabwe ( 460). In total, 17 nationalities and four continents will be represented next week at the Kiroleta Club.
The responsibility of doing it well at home will lie with players like Diego Chávez from Bilbao, Sextuple absolute champion of Euskadi and who will play the final draw. Chávez already has experience in the Davis Cup representing Bolivia, his country of origin, and other Basque tennis players also appear on the local roster, such as Mikel López, champion of Spain Junior in doubles in 2017, or Pablo Riva, champion of Euskadi. in lower categories, who will seek to add ATP points by accessing the final table from the previous phases.
The Preliminary Phase will be played on June 27 and 28, with 32 tennis players fighting for the 8 places that are distributed for the Final Phase. This final phase will begin on the same day 28 with the matches in which players from the Preview are not involved. In the Final Phase there will be 32 participants, who throughout the week will fight to gain a place in the grand final , which will take place on Saturday, July 3 at 6:00 p.m. on the track 'Alberto Berasategui'. The doubles final will be played the day before, on Friday, July 2. Entrance to all tournament phases is free. Sunday June 27: Preliminary Phase Monday June 28 2nd round Preliminary Phase and first round matches of Final Phase Tuesday June 29: 1st Round. Wednesday June 30: Eighth finals. Thursday, July 1: Quarter-finals. Friday, July 2: Individual semifinals and doubles final Saturday, July 3: Individual final at 6:00 p.m.
The main novelty in this edition of the tournament will be the broadcast of its Final Phase matches (as of June 28) by streaming through the links enabled both on the Open Kiroleta website and on the International Federation website. Tennis (https://live.itftennis.com/en/live-streams/). In addition, the results of all matches can be followed online through the official ITF App and on the aforementioned websites.
What Parallel activities to the celebration of the tournament there are several programmed actions. On Thursday, July 1, the fifth edition of the Kiroleta Open Solidarity ‘Proam’ will be held, which will raise funds for the Tennis Aid charity association, and in which well-known faces from the sport and from Biscay society will take the racket. The traditional barbecue and the Tucson Band concert will also take place. In addition, in the run-up to the final there will be a wheelchair tennis exhibition by Raúl Moreno and Rubén Valle, who will be accompanied by former national coach Fernando Esteve.