Beskidzki Klub Tenisowy Advantage Bielsko-Biała will host two LOTTO PZT Polish Tour events this summer. First, the women will take to the courts on Ceramiczna Street, followed by the men. It promises to be a culmination of tennis excitement.
Bielsko-Biała is one of two cities on this year's LOTTO PZT Polish Tour calendar hosting two professional tournaments. First, from July 28 to August 2, the women will compete for ranking points and a $15,000 prize pool, followed by the men's tournament from August 3 to 8. These will mark the fifth and seventh events of this season's LOTTO PZT Polish Tour, following tournaments already held in Bolszewo (ITF W35), Gdańsk (ITF W50), Rzeszów (ITF M15), and Łódź (ITF M15), with another event taking place in Koszalin (ITF M25) next week.
Last year in Bielsko-Biała, Polish players made full use of the home-court advantage. The singles tournament was won by Marcelina Podlińska (KS Górnik Bytom), and the doubles title went to Daria Górska (Legia Tenis Warszawa) pairing up with Czech player Emma Slavikova. In the men's event, Karol Filar and Mikołaj Migdalski (both from BKT Advantage Bielsko-Biała) shone by winning the doubles competition. Thus, Polish players have titles to defend in this year's edition.
The preliminary entry list for the ITF W15 tournament includes among others Podlińska, Amelia Paszun (AZS Poznań), Zuzanna Bednarz (Legia Tenis Warszawa), Anna Kmiecik (KS Górnik Bytom), and Maja Pawelska (KS Górnik Bytom), while several other Polish players are guaranteed a spot in the qualifiers. The first of these, the defending champion, returns to Bielsko-Biała after two weeks, having recently competed on those courts in the second round of the Polish Team Championships TenisLIGA, defeating Gabriela Gregorczyk (KT GAT Gdańsk) 6:1, 6:0.
Currently, the highest-seeded player among the entries is 23-year-old Slovak Radka Zelnickova, who already has four ITF W15 tournament victories to her name, though all were on hard courts. On the other hand, Georgia Andreea Craciun is a clay-court specialist. The 27-year-old Romanian has won thirteen tournaments at this level, eleven of them on clay, and was ranked ninth in the ITF rankings as recently as 2019.
Wild cards for the tournaments will be awarded to young players from Bielsko-Biała, as the idea behind organizing these events is to create opportunities for our tennis players to gain experience and collect ATP and WTA points. Among them will be Magdalena Baniak, Jakub Jędrzejczak, and Mikołaj Migdalski, announces Aleksandra Musiał, director of BKT Advantage. - Furthermore, during the women's qualifying rounds, we plan a tournament for U12 children, and during the final weekend of the men's competition, we will host an amateur tournament for women and men.
The title partner of the LOTTO PZT Polish Tour is LOTTO, the Strategic Partner of the Polish Tennis Association. The Main Partner of the tour is the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, Partners are TAURON, Hertz, and Tretorn, and the Media Partner is "Tenis Magazyn". Tournament partners include the City of Bielsko-Biała, Dom Maklerski BDM S.A., and STRUMET sp. z o.o.
