Ramkumar, Saketh to lead Indian hopes

Pune will host the $50,000 KPIT ATP Challenger and $10,000 women’s ITF Futures from Saturday. Multiple Grand Slam men’s doubles and mixed doubles champion Leander Paes is also expected to be part of the event.

Third seed Saketh Myneni, Ramkumar Ramnathan, Sumit Nagal, Nguyen Hoang Thien, top seeded Russian Evgeny Donskoy and Korean Duck Lee are some of the top names in the men’s event.

National champion Vishnu Vardhan and Siddharth Rawat have been given wild cards along with India junior no. 1 Dhruv Sunish and Jayesh Pungaliya.

The women’s event has been added in this third edition of the tournament. The Indian charge will be led by former national champion Prerna Bhambri, current national champion Riya Bhatia, national runner up Etee Mehta and Rio Olympian Prarthana Thombare.