Local player Prajwal Dev has been given a wild card into the singles main draw while reigning Wimbledon champion Max Purcell will spearhead the doubles field at the Bengaluru Open 2023, scheduled to be held from February 20 to 26.
Dev, the No. 1 Karnataka player, became the second wild card entrant after Sumit Nagal at the fifth edition of the ATP Challenger event, which will be organised by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association at the KSLTA Stadium.
“It’s always great to see Indian presence at the Bengaluru Open; this is our tournament and a platform for Indian players. We have always supported and promoted Indian talent through this event and Prajwal is an outstanding player. I’m equally delighted to see six Indian names in the doubles draw which also features Wimbledon champion. This showcases the high quality of the tournament. Our doubles players have always produced memorable shows here and I’m confident that this trend will continue in the upcoming edition as well,” said Sunil Yajaman, Tournament Director and Joint Secretary of KSLTA.
In doubles field, Purcell, also a two-time Australian Open finallist, has partnered with Marc Polmans with a team ranking of 246. The in-form Australian duo won the Challenger title in Burnie, Australia earlier this month.
Ramkumar Ramanathan will lead the Indian presence in the doubles main draw which consists of two all-Indian pairs in Purav Raja-Divij Sharan and Anirudh Chandrasekar-N Vijay Sundar Prashanth.
Ramkumar, who will pair up with Italian Francesco Maestrelli, lifted the Bengaluru Open doubles title in 2022 and 2020 while playing along with Saketh Myneni and Raja, respectively.
Another Indian Arjun Kadhe will also battle it out for the title along with his Austrian partner Maximilian Neuchrist.
Qualifiers will be played from February 19 and 20 while the main draw begins on February 20.
Doubles accpetance list
| S.No. | Player | Doubles Ranking | Player | Doubles Ranking | Team Ranking |
| 1 | Marc Polmans (AUS) | 188 | Max Purcell (AUS) | 58 | 246 |
| 2 | JiSung Nam (KOR) | 155 | MinKyu Song (KOR) | 146 | 301 |
| 3 | Francesco Maestrelli (ITA) | 733 | Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) | 128 | 307 |
| 4 | Purav Raja (IND) | 153 | Divij Sharan (IND) | 156 | 309 |
| 5 | Arjun Kadhe (IND) | 139 | Maximilian Neuchrist (AUT) | 185 | 324 |
| 6 | Ryan Peniston (GBR) | 558 | Dalibor Svrcina (CZE) | 348 | 334 |
| 7 | Toshihide Matsui (JPN) | 202 | Kaito Uesugi (JPN) | 184 | 386 |
| 8 | Anirudh Chandrasekar (IND) | 166 | N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) | 221 | 387 |
| 9 | Benjamin Lock (ZIM) | 181 | Akira Santillan (AUS) | 211 | 392 |
| 10 | Petr Nouza (CZE) | 232 | Andrew Paulson (CZE) | 170 | 402 |
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