Eugenie Bouchard, 2014 Wimbledon finalist, and Ankita Raina, Indian number one, have been awarded wildcards for the upcoming WTA250 Chennai Open, the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) confirmed at a press conference on Tuesday.
The WTA 250 tournament, to be played from September 12-18, will have two more wildcard entries. One of them is reserved for any one of the top 20 players who might wish to sign-in at the last minute. In case no top 20 player applies for it, TNTA can award the wildcard as per its discretion. The fourth wildcard will go to the next player on the entry list.
Sharmada Balu and Riya Bhatia have been awarded wildcards in doubles.
“We want to be able to use some qualifying wildcards for the players from Tamil Nadu,” said TNTA President Vijay Amritraj.
World number 17 Caroline Garcia, who clinched the Cincinnati Masters title on Sunday, will be the top seed. The Frenchwoman has twice won the women’s doubles title at Roland Garros, in 2016 and 2022, with compatriot Kristina Mladenovic.
World number 29 Alison Riske-Amritraj will be the second seed.
Sania Mirza on Tuesday announced her withdrawal from the upcoming US Open following an elbow injury she picked up during the National Bank Open in Canada two weeks ago.
Regarding her participation in the doubles event at Chennai Open, Amritraj said, “I had a long chat with Sania during Wimbledon where she had said that she was going to participate at the US Open and also had a good chance of making it to the WTA Finals which would have made it hard for her to come back to India for Chennai Open and then go back.
“But now that she is injured, it does not look like she is going to play at US Open and whether she would be fit enough to play with us, we will have to wait and see.
“Even if she does not play, TNTA would like to invite and felicitate her for the incredible career that she has had.”
The event will be telecast live in India on the Sony Sports Network while live streaming will be available on Tennis Channel International.
Comments
SHARE