World Number 6 Kevin Anderson to return for this year’s Maharashtra Open

Anderson has been expected to be the top seed for the singles event. Last year, apart from Anderson, Marin Cilic from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Gilles Simon had also taken part in the tournament. The South African has been in good form defeating the World Number three Roger Federer in the quarterfinal match of the coveted Wimbledon Open.

Prashant Sutar, Tournament Director, Tata Open Maharashtra also seemed pretty happy for the inclusion of the South African into the tournament. "I happened to meet Kevin during Wimbledon and he expressed his willingness to come back to Pune as he was happy about how our event was conducted overall. We are delighted to have him back and will be one our star attractions for this year's tournament," said Sutar.

Apart from defeating Federer, Anderson also defeated in John Isner 26-24 in the semifinals of the Wimbledon, before going on to lose in the finals in straight sets against the in-form Novak Djokovic.

Earlier in July this year, Anderson also became the highest ranked South African tennis player ever by entering the top five for the first time in his career. He won the New York Open and after that, made it to the finals of 2018 Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentadopor HSBC Open (ATP 500) losing to Juan Martin Del Potro.