The biggest tennis tournament in Slovenia will get underway at the coast on Monday as players take to the courts of Marina Portorož for the Tilia Slovenia Open.The week-long ATP Challenger is being held for a second year in Portorož, but will this year feature a slightly bigger prize fund of US$ 50,000 instead of US$ 32,500.
The tournament was won last year by Slovenia's Gregor Žemlja, who will not be defending his title due to the prolonged illness which has kept him out of competition since September last year.
Slovenia's only representative will be Blaž Kavčič, who has been seeded fourth based on the 16 June rankings which were used to determine the tournament draw.
Kavčič has since advanced 24 places to be ranked 98th on the ATP rankings on the back of two titles and a finals appearance on the Challenger tour in June.
Slovenia's highest ranked player at the moment, Blaž Rola (92nd), will also not be present as he pulled out at the last moment due to a knee ailment.
The top seed will be Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, who is currently ranked 88th in the world.
Source: SloveniaTimes
