Kaia Kanepi playing in ITF Wiesbaden tournament Tuesday
Estonia's top tennis player by current world ranking Kaia Kanepi is to face 500th in the world Joelle Lilly Sophie Steur of Germany on Tuesday, in round one of the ITF tournament in Wiesbaden.
Kanepi, ranked 63rd in the world, is the only top 100 player to take part in the Wiesbaden competition, though the 37-year-old is somewhat off-form after losing seven competitive matches in a row, since January's Australian Open preliminary tournament, ERR's Sport portal reports.
Her most recent defeat came against Spain's Irine Burillo Escorihuela (WTA 318th) in Madrid last month; the Spanish player was only taking part in her second ever full WTA game.
Another Estonian, Maileen Nuudi, went out in the Wiesbaden qualifiers after losing 6:3, 6:3 to Justina Mikulskyte (Lithuania).
The ITF is a feeder series for the WTA and ATP (men's) circuits; the Wiesbaden tournament carries with it a prize fund of US$ 100,000.
Should Kanepi progress to round two, she may face another German, Sabine Lisicki, 33, who ranked as high as 12th in the world, over a decade ago.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Anders Nõmm
