Johannesburg — SOUTH African Tennis Association CEO Ian Smith expressed his delight yesterday after Mercedes-Benz SA (MBSA) announced that it would sponsor the SAA South African Open tennis championship to the tune of R1,5m.

The tournament will be played in East London from February 11-17.

"We are thrilled to have a high-profile company like Mercedes on board, and they have indicated an intention to stay on board for three years -- depending how this tournament goes," Smith said yesterday.

Asked why the company had come aboard so late -- the tournament starts in 12 days' time -- Smith said: "They did in fact commit last year, but being an international company they had to go through all the procedures to get approval -- and the Christmas break slowed things down."

The company said yesterday it had an option to renew sponsorship for a further two years while East London remained the host city for the event.

This is the first time that East London is hosting an international tennis tourney. The championship is to be held at the newly refurbished Selborne Park tennis stadium.

Dr Hansgeorg Niefer, chairman of the board of MBSA, said the group was "extremely proud to be associated with this event".

"East London has been home to our South African manufacturing division since 1948, and we are very proud to be corporate citizens in the city and province."

Heading the list of players is 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden, along with compatriot Jonas Björkman -- a nine-time doubles Grand Slam champion.

Joining them will be 2005 Wimbledon doubles champion Wesley Moodie of SA, and 2005 Australian Open doubles winner Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe.

Adding to the compelling line-up is Austria's Stefan Koubek, who reached the semifinals last year, and both last year's winner and runner-up, Mathieu Montcourt of France and SA's Rik de Voest, respectively.

SAA CEO Khaya Ngqula said: "It is an honour to have Mercedes-Benz as part of the SAA team during the Open in East London. We greatly admire them for the value they have added to the lives of residents in the area in the past few decades, and for the positive contribution they have made to SA's economy.

"The involvement of Mercedes-Benz in the Open will further boost SAA's efforts to elevate the game of tennis in SA, and add to the excitement of the tournament," Ngqula said.

Running alongside the Open will be the South African Club Championships.

This year's tournament is a $125000 Challenger event -- which is the highest level in the Challenger category. Smith said efforts were still on to make the Open a fully-fledged ATP Tour event in the future.