Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan will be leading a strong Indian contingent at the KPIT-MSLTA Challenger, to will be held in Pune from November 11.
Prajnesh, the top-ranked Indian at 92, is the top seed while Nagal, who has jumped to a career-best rank of 129 after a sensational second half of the season is seeded second. Australia’s James Duckworth is the third seed.
Other top players include Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri, who reached a career-high ranking of 42 earlier this year, and Jay Clarke. India’s Sasikumar Mukund, seeded eighth, Saketh Myneni, Sidharth Rawat and Arjun Kadhe will be the other Indians in the singles draw, all on the virtue of their ranking.
In doubles, most of the Indian players with the exception of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan are expected to play, though the draw is yet to be finalised. Vijay Sundar Prashanth and Ramkumar were the winners last year.
Yuki Bhambri, who has won the tournament twice, is still injured and won’t be part of this season, said Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association Secretary Sunder Iyer. He is looking to make a comeback early next year, possibly at the ATP 250 tournament in Pune, which has been pushed from December 2019 to February 2020.
“Challengers in India mean a lot to Indian players, we have benefited a lot from these events. Some of us would have probably been ranked 50 spots lower without Challenger events in the country,” Purav Raja told reporters at the launch of the tournament in Mumbai on Friday.
The Pune Challenger is especially important for India No 1 Prajnesh, who was the runner-up to Elias Ymer last year after winning the Challenger in Bengaluru. With no Bangalore Open this year and an injury retirement in his last outing in China, it is crucial for the left-hander to defend his points from last year and stay in the top 100.
The timing of the Challenger means the points count towards the season-ending ranking which decides qualification for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year.
“Our tournament is placed strategically because the winner inevitably makes it to the main draw of the Australian Open, so players who are on the fringe of the main draw at the Australian Open make it a point to enter the event in a bid to cement their spots,” Kishor Patil, chairman of the organising committee and the CEO of KPIT said.
The tournament will have the new 48-player draw with the ranking cut-off at 550 this year. Of the 48, 41 players will get direct entry, two players will come through qualifiers and five players will be given wild cards, which are yet to be decided.
The qualifying round will have only two matches and will be played on November 11, alongside the main draw. The finals will be played on November 17 with the winner getting $7,200 (Rs 5,10,000) and gain as well as 80 ATP points.