Tennis South Africa’s chief executive Ian Smith remains confident the Soweto Open will survive another year.

Following the cancellation of the SA Open, South African tennis has suffered another setback with the scrapping of the Soweto Open.

South Africa’s No. 2 player Izak van der Merwe has leaped 17 places in the men’s world tennis rankings after beating US player Jesse Levine.

At a sun-scorched Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre on Tuesday, more top men’s seeds exited in the first round of the Soweto Open.