Leander Paes and Ramkumar Ramanathan will make their debut as a pair in the $50000 KPIT ATP Challenger to be played at the Balewadi Tennis Complex from Monday. Seeded second, the duo will open its campaign against compatriots Anvit Bendre and Sidharth Rawat.
Paes, who has played in the city as a 12-year-old, seemed quite pleased. “I love the sports-loving people of Pune and decided to play in the event which is gradually becoming well known in the international circuit,” said Paes in a statement.
Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy is the top seed in singles, where the winner will get 80 ATP points. Donskoy, ranked 95 in the ATP list, could largely benefit should he go on to win the title and a prize money of $ 7200. The fancied Russain will lock horns with India’s Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash in the first round.
Saketh Myneni, seeded third, is drawn to play Serbia’ s Danilo Petrovic. Other Indians in the singles draw are Siddharth Vishwakarma, Sasi Kumar Mukund, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sumit Nagal, Sriram Balaji, G. Prajnesh, Hadin Salim Bava, Vijay Sundar Prashanth, V.M. Ranjeet, Sidharth Rawat, Sanam Singh and Vinayak Sharma Kaza. Vishnu Vardhan, Dhruv Sunish and Jayesh Pungliya have been awarded wild card entries.
The seedings: Singles: 1. Evgeny Donskoy (Rus), 2, Duckhee Lee (Kor), 3. Saketh Myneni, 4. Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (Esp), 5. Ramkumar Ramanathan, 6. Nikola Milojevic (Srb), 7. Dmitry Popko (Kaz) 8. G. Prajnesh.
Doubles: 1. Purav Raja & Divij Sharan, 2 Leander Paes & Ramkumar Ramanathan, 3. Saketh Myneni & Sanam Singh, 4. Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Vijay Sundar Prashanth.
