James Ward vs. Santiago Gonzalez

ATP World Tour / 13 July 2014, 17:00

James Ward will meet Santiago Gonzalez in the second qualifying round of the Claro Open Colombia where both players will be playing for the chance to progress and play in the main tournament. Ward reached the second round on a bye while Gonzalez beat Tigre Hank in the first qualifying round 6-2, 6-1.

This is the second Claro Open Colombia to take place after it replaced the Los Angeles Open on the ATP World Tour last year. The inaugural tournament was won by Ivo Karlovic who will be returning this year to try and retain his title. The competition has total prize money of $727,000 making it the tournament with the most prize money in South America.

Ward, currently ranked 154 in the world, has not been having the best season. He failed to pass the Round of 128 at Wimbledon and his best result was reaching the Quarter-Finals at the Tallahassee Challenger in April. Overall he has won 3 games and lost 8 this year.

Gonzalez is ranked well in the world of doubles tennis, but for singles play is currently ranked 1183 in the world. This season he has failed to progress past the qualifying stages of any tournament. His best result was reaching the third qualifying round at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany.

This is the first time that these players have met and both will be eager to make it through into the tournament proper, both to improve their ATP rankings and also to claim a share of the prize fund.