Mumbai: Ten Indians, led by the country’s top two Davis Cup singles players Yuki Bhambri and Somdev Devvarman, would be seen in action in the USD 50,000 (Rs 33 lakh) KPIT ATP Challenger Tennis tournament at the Shiv Chattrapathi Complex in Pune from October 24-31.
Other Indians in the fray include Saketh Myneni, Ramkumar Ramnathan and Sanam Singh, according to the tournament’s organisers – Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association. Main draw wild cards have been awarded to Junior Wimbledon doubles champion Sumit Nagal, Vishnu Vardhan, Sriram Balaji and Aryan Goveas. The tournament has attracted British and Belgium Davis Cuppers – James Ward and Yanick Mertens – respectively. Former top 100 player Evegeny Donskoy of Russia and Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain are some of the other players who have sent in entries.
The winner would take home USD 7,200 (Rs 4,71,000) and 80 ATP points while the runner-up gets USD 4,053 (Rs 2,65,000) and 55 ATP points. The qualifying rounds are to be held on October 24 and 25 followed by the tournament proper from October 26. List of the Indian participants (with their ATP Tour rankings) : Yuki Bhambri 99, Saketh Myneni 168, Somdev Devvarman 178, Ramkumar Ramanathan 228, Sanam Singh, 266, N Vijay Sundar Prashanth 335 and wild cards Sriram Balaji, Vishnu Vardhan, Sumit Nagal and Aryan Goveas.
Foreign players Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) 115, Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) 135, James Ward (GBR) 150, Yannick Mertens (BEL) 182, Ti Chen (TPE) 184, Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS) 190, Germain Gigounon (BEL) 218, Daniel Nguyen (USA) 246, Gerard Granollers (ESP) 272, Robert Stephane (FRA) 304, Nikola Milojevic (SRB) 307, Egor Gerasimov (BLR) 316, Alexis Musialek (FRA) 320, Alessandro Bega (ITA) 322, Arthur D Greef (BEL) 333, Maxime Janvier (FRA) 345.
