Pune, Dec 20 (PTI) India’s Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan will not defend their Tata Open Maharashtra title together as they will pair up with different partners at the ATP 250 event, where reigning US Open champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury will feature in the doubles draw.
The two-time champion Bopanna, who is also the top-ranked Indian doubles player in the world at 19, will team up with Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp while Ramkumar has joined forces with Mexico’s Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela.
However, there will be an Indian pair in the field with Saketh Myneni and Yuki Bhambri competing together. They have won six titles on the ATP Challenger Tour in 2022 as a team.
The 16-team draw will have two wild card entries, which are yet to be announced.
“I’m delighted to see four Indians in the main draw along with top stars from the tennis world. We have seen what Indians are capable of and I hope the upcoming edition will also give our players an edge, playing in front of home fans. Indians doing well at the big events like this has always been pleasing for us,” said Sunder Iyer, the joint secretary of All India Tennis Association and secretary of MSLTA.
With their combined rank of seven, American world No. 3 Ram and Britain’s world No. 4 Salisbury will be the top seeded team at the ATP 250 event.
The three-time Grand Slam champion duo enjoyed an incredibly successful 2022 season, winning the US Open title for the second time in a row and also won two ATP Masters 1000 titles before capping off the year by clinching the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin.
“It’s a strong field which also has four Indians. It’s always great to watch our players dominate the tournament in front of home fans and we expect similar gameplay in the upcoming edition as well,” said Prashant Sutar, tournament director of Tata Open Maharashtra.
Among other notable foreign stars to receive direct entries are: American duo of Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow, who won their first ATP Tour doubles title together at the 2022 Southern California Open in San Diego, and French duo of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul.
The former world No. 24 Sander Gille and former world No. 28 Joran Vliegen also made the cut with a combined ranking of 121.
The qualifying event will begin on December 31 while the main draw will be played from January 2 to 7.
Source: PTI News
