Nine-time doubles Grand Slam champion Kristina Mladenovic of France will compete in the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament to be played here at the Ganesh Naik Sports Complex from Monday.
The 30-year-old Mladenovic was ranked a career best No.1 in doubles and No.10 in singles in 2017. She had won four French Open and two Australian Open titles in her glittering career. She had also made the doubles finals of Wimbledon and US Open.
Mladenovic has been part of five mixed doubles Grand Slam finals too and has won three of them - Wimbledon 2013, and Australian Open 2014 & 2022.
Ranked a modest 239 at the moment, Mladenovic is seeded third in singles behind Ekaterina Makarova and Moyuka Uchijima.
Rutuja Bhosale and Sahaja Yamalapalli have been seeded sixth and eighth respectively.
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It will be the third tournament in a row to be organised by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA), after the ones in Mumbai and Solapur.
“The tournament will have players from 18 countries”, said the tournament director, Dilip Rane.
The MSLTA secretary Sunder Iyer pointed out that in ten editions of the tournament, the event had attracted such good players from abroad that an Indian player has not yet managed to win the title.
Vaidehi Chaudhari, Zeel Desai and Shrivalli Bhamidipaty are the other Indian players who have gained direct entry into the tournament.
The wild cards have been given to Vaishnavi Adkar, Akanksha Nitture and Suhitha Maruri.
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