Sumit Nagal will lead the Indian contingent in the men's singles competition of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger 100 tournament starting on February 5. Nagal made history as the first Indian to defeat a seeded player in a Grand Slam tournament.
The 26-year-old Nagal advanced to the second round of the Australian Open last month by defeating world no. 27 and 31 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan. He is presently ranked 121 in the world.
Ramkumar Ramanathan and Mukund Sasikumar, along with a third player, have received wild cards for the main draw of the men's singles competition.
Luca Nardi of Italy has been given the top seed, with players from 14 countries participating in the tournament. Max Purcell of Australia, last year's winner, will not be competing this time as he is participating in other ATP events.
In the doubles category, India's Arjun Kadhe and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan are the top-seeded pair.
This tournament marks the first of four Challenger Series events to be held in India, with the remaining three taking place in Bengaluru, Pune, and Delhi.
The tournament will take place on hard courts and will feature a singles main draw with 32 players and a doubles draw with 16 pairs. The total prize money for the event will amount to USD 1,33,250.
During the tournament launch, Indian tennis legend and President of TNTA, Vijay Amritraj, stated, "This is proof that the conduct of international tournaments such as the ATP Challenger enable Indian players to excel on the world stage."
He also extended congratulations to Rohan Bopanna for his victory in the Australian Open doubles title and for reaching the top of the ATP doubles ranking.
“I am delighted to congratulate Rohan Bopanna on becoming the world's No.1 doubles player and winning the Australian Open title at the same time.
"Having chased his dreams for such a long time, this is an amazing achievement for Rohan, and even more creditable that it has come at the age of 43," he said.
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