Yuki Bhambri to lead Indian challenge in Air Asia Open

Bengaluru: Country's top singles player Yuki Bhambri will spearhead the Indian challenge at the ATP Air Asia Open, beginning here Monday.

The singles draw of the USD 50,000 event will have five other Indians in the main draw including Somdev Devvarman, Saketh Myneni, Sanam Singh, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Vijay Sunder Prashant.

Yuki, who will be a top-100 player by the time the event begins, will be the top seed while Spain's Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (world number 137) and Great Britain's James Ward (157) will be seeded second and third.

The qualifiers will begin on Saturday as the city will host an ATP event after a gap of 12 years, KSLTA Treasurer B N S Reddy said.

"The Air Asia Open offers the Indian players a platform to climb up the International ladder. It will be a well contested tournament with six Indians in the main draw," Reddy said.

KSLTA Joint Secretary Ramaswamy announced a wild card for Karnataka s top player Suraj Prabodh from Mysuru.

The Commercial Director of Air Asia India, Gaurav Rathore said, "Sports is a constant vertical that Air Asia has been supporting and is passionate about for a very long time with a single-minded objective of being out there where the action is."

The tournament Director would be Sunil Yajaman and ATP Supervisor will be Roberto Raniera from Italy.

"ATP Challenger takes our players one step closer to the ATP Tour and hopefully, we would see some top 50 players emerging out of our country soon," AITA Joint Secretary Sunder Raju said in a message.