While South Africans in recent years have played a diminishing role in the highly competitive international tennis arena, the country's current number one, Kevin Anderson, has secured a place in Wimbledon Open's 128-man event that gets underway next Monday.
Wimbledon qualifying details released on Monday reveal that Anderson is the only South African with an automatic place into the men's singles tournament proper by virtue of his 96th world ranking, the South African Press Association reported on Monday.
Players ranked 102nd and better have gained an automatic place, with the draw completed with 16 qualifiers and a select number of wild card entrants.
And starting the arduous 128-man qualifying tournament-within-a tournament on Monday with victories for one of the 16 designated first-round places were South African Davis Cup squad members Rik de Voest, Wesley Moodie and Izak van der Merwe.
South African number two De Voest had a gritty 3-6 6-4 6-1 win over Belgium's Dick Norman, a dangerous big server who has had his fair share of success at past Wimbledon tournaments.
Source: Xinhua
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