Pune: India’s Yuki Bhambri and Prajnesh Gunneswaran will kickstart their campaign at the 4th Tata Open Maharashtra as the main draw begins on Monday at the Balewadi Stadium here.
The Delhi-born Bhambri, who received a directed entry into the main draw because of his protected rankings, will take on Slovak player Jozef Kovalik in the opening round encounter while the Asian Games medallist Prajnesh, who entered the tournament as a wildcard, will start his challenge against the fifth-seeded Daniel Altamaier.
Apart from Bhambri and Prajnesh, the fourth edition of Asia’s only ATP 250 event, which is organised by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association, will also have the country’s top-ranked singles player Ramkumar Ramanathan and local boy Arjun Kadhe starting directly in the singles main draw which consists of a strong field in the presence of top players from the world including World No. 15 Aslan Karatsev.
Lithuania’s highest-ranked player for all time, Ricardas Berankis, who had a semi-final finish in the last edition in 2020, will also be seen in action as seven singles opening-round matches will be played on Monday. Berankis will be up against Halys Quentin of France.
The top-seeded Australian pair of Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith will open their campaign against Stefano Travaglia and Bernabe Zapata Miralles as four doubles matches will take place on Day 1 of the main draw.
In the qualifying matches, played on Sunday, India’s Sasikumar Mukund and Manish Sureshkumar suffered defeats in the first round. While Mukund lost to Turkey’s Celikbilek Altug 6-3, 6-3, Sureshkumar conceded a 6-2, 6-3 loss against Czech player Kopriva Vit.
Alexandre Muller, Elias Ymer, Jay Clarke, Gian Marco Moroni, Marc Polmans and Kimmer Coppejans were the players who progressed into the second qualifying round and are now a win away from a spot in the main draw.
(IANS)
