Sidharth Rawat, Mahak Jain top seeds in AITA Ranking tourney

The tournament, with a Rs 22 lakh prize money, is being organised by the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana. Rawat (24), currently ranked seventh in the country, will have to contend with second seed Maharashtra’s Arjun Kadhe, who is ranked 10th.

Mahak Jain is India ranked seventh. (File Photo)

Mumbai

Defending champion Sidharth Rawat of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh’s Mahak Jain are the top seeds in the men’s and women’s singles event of the AITA Ranking JVPG Anirudh Desai All-India Open Tennis Tournament 2018, which begins on Monday here.

The tournament, with a Rs 22 lakh prize money, is being organised by the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana. Rawat (24), currently ranked seventh in the country, will have to contend with second seed Maharashtra’s Arjun Kadhe, who is ranked 10th. Suraj R. Prabodh of Karnataka and current National champion Dalwinder Singh of Punjab are the third and fourth seeds respectively.

Mahak (16), who is also India ranked seventh, is followed by Delhi’s Sai Samhitha as the second seed, while another Delhi girl, Rishika Sunkara, is seeded third and Tamil Nadu’s Nithyaraj Baburaj is the fourth seed.

The men and women champions will go home richer by Rs 2 lakh each and the runner-up will get Rs 1 lakh each. Prize money in singles will be offered from the first round itself, with the first round losers also gaining Rs 12,000 each. Prize money will also be awarded to the qualifying losers, a media release said on Sunday. Matches will also be heldd in men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Men’s qualifying 3rd round: Abhinav Sanjeev bt Jaydeep S. Chudasama 9-6; Rhythem Malhotra bt Anshuman Gulia 9-8(7); Aaditya Tewari bt Armaan Bhatia 9-7; Alex Solanki bt Kunj Kotak 9-5; Paras Dahiya bt Krishna Teja Ankam 9-6; Abhimanyu Vannemreddy 9-0; Antarkish Mohandas bt Ayush Hindlekar 9-4; Arpit Sharma bt Chilakalapudi 9-4..

The seedings: Men’s top 8: 1. Sidharth Rawat (UP — rank 7), 2. Arjun Kadhe (Mah - rank 11), 3. Suraj R. Prabodh (KA - rank 13), 4. Dalwinder Singh (PB - rank 15), 5. Manish Sureshkumar (TN - rank 17), 6. Kunal Anand (DL - rank 18), 7. Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (TN - rank 19), 8. Hardeep Singh Sandhu (PB - rank 20).

Women’s top 8: 1. 1. Mahak Jain (MP - rank 7), 2. Sai Samhitha (TN - rank 9), 3. Rishika Sunkara (DL - rank 13), 4. Nithyaraj Baburaj (TN - rank 14), 5. Eetee Maheta (GJ - rank 15), 6. Humera Shaikh (TS - rank 16), 7. Ramya Natrajan (TN - rank 18), 8. Shweta Chandra Rana (DL - rank 19). PTI NRB BNM 02042016