Pune ATP Challenger | Prajnesh Gunneswaran to lead 21 singles player
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India’s top ranked tennis singles player Prajnesh Gunneswaran would be leading a contingent of 21 singles players of India in the upcoming Pune ATP Challenger event. Gunneswaran hasn’t won a single title this season and the season-ending event could offer him a crucial chance as well as points.
India have decided to send a massive 21-man contingent for the event, which they have been hosting for the longest time in the country. Organized by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association Secretary, it would be taking place at the from Monday at the Balewadi stadium in Pune.
The World No. 95 would be having the likes of India No 2 Sumit Nagal, who is also world No 127, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sasikumar Mukund, and Saketh Myneni, in the main draw alongside him. Amongst them, 19 would be featuring in the singles main draw as the other two would join them from the qualifiers.
Having such a huge number of players in the singles main draw is a record for any host nation for the second-highest contingent is Japan, with four players, followed by Russia with three players. Amongst the major absentees would be Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri, who was earlier scheduled to play.
However, the Challenger event would be having other notable singles seeds such as James Duckworth, Steven Diez, Jay Clarke, Roberto Ortega-Olmedo, and Duckhee Lee. All the seeded players would be getting a bye in the first round as the tournament would be having the new 48-player draw with the ranking cut-off at 550 this year.
The doubles event has the all-Indian pair of Purav Raja and Ramkumar Ramanathan as the top seeds, after they won the Challenger at Kobe in Japan last week. The doubles would be featuring six other all-Indian pairs.
