"I'm delighted that we can bring world class wheelchair tennis to Bolton Arena for the first time and we are all thrilled with the high quality field and the wide spread of countries that will feature during what should be a highly exciting four days of top class sport," said tournament director Tony Knappett.

The tournament will see Britain's top three ranked players head the entries for the men's singles with world number three Gordon Reid, British number two Marc McCarroll and world number one ranked junior Alfie Hewett all boosting a strong home challenge.

Frenchmen Thomas Vinatier and Yoann Quilliou and Hungary's Laszlo Farkas head the top ranked overseas players, which also includes London 2012 men's doubles gold medallist and former world number two Stefan Olsson of Sweden.

Jordanne Whiley (right) became the first British woman to win a Grand Slam Wheelchair title when she took the women's doubles title at the Australian Open ©Getty Images



Whiley, who recently became the first British woman to win a Grand Slam wheelchair tennis title, and world number eight Shuker, who were bronze medallists together at London 2012, are among four world top 10 ranked women's players among the entries in Bolton.

"It's very exciting to have a new ITF 2 Series tournament in Britain and I'm really looking forward to playing in Bolton and trying to defend world ranking points I won this time last year," said Whiley.

"It will be my second tournament in Britain after my success in Australia and I'll be doing my best to maintain my good start to the year."

Leading the challenge from overseas in the women's events will be world number four and 2013 ITF Wheelchair World Champion van Koot, as well as Germany's world number 10 Katharina Kruger.

London 2012 silver medallist Andy Lapthorne will be among three world top 10 ranked British athletes in the men's quads ©Getty Images



Britain's world number three Lapthorne, who won silver in the quad doubles at London 2012, will make his first competitive appearance since securing his third grand Slam title at the Australian Open last month.

He is one of three world top 10 ranked Brits in the field for the quad singles, alongside world number seven Antony Cotterill and world number eight Jamie Burdekin.

They will likely face stiff opposition in the form of Italy's world number nine Antonio Raffaele and Sweden's Anders Hard.

The tournament will be the second in as many weeks to be held in Britain, following the North West Challenge at South Ribble Tennis Centre from tomorrow to February 16, and will take place from February 19 to 22.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
January 2014: Shingo Kunieda seals seventh Australian Wheelchair Tennis Open title
January 2014: Whiley becomes first British woman to win wheelchair tennis Grand Slam
January 2014: Wagner and Lapthorne secure quads doubles crown at Australian Wheelchair Open
January 2014: Top two survive early scares to advance to semi-finals of Australian Wheelchair Open
January 2014: Reid gears up for Australian Open with double success in Sydney