Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Sumit Nagal in action at sixth edition of KPIT – MSLTA Challenger.
· 25th International event at Shiv Chatrapathi Mhalunge-Balewadi Tennis Complex
Pune, November 8 : Indian tennis Stars, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, inform player Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan , Saketh Myneni will be leading a strong Indian contingent at the KPIT MSLTA Challenger organized by MSLTA and PMDTA under the auspices of ATP and AITA and will be played at the Mhalunge-Balewadi Tennis Complex in Pune from November 11- 17 .
The tournament which is being played for the sixth consecutive year is the longest running ATP challenger in India , the event assumes Importance for the Indian players as it is the only Challenger to be played in India this year . Players from over 20 countries make up a strong line up this year. Incidentally It will also be the 25th international event to be held at Shiv Chatrapathi Mhalunge-Balewadi Tennis Complex
Mr. Kishor Patil President of PMDTA and Chairman of the organizing committee and MD of KPIT said “ We have ensured the continuity of the event , I’m happy that our tournament which is being held for the sixth year-in-the-row has helped Indian players move up to the newer heights our is aim to promote Indian tennis players and give at least 10 -15 Indian players an opportunity to take a shot at garnering important ATP points . This year we have 13 Indians in the main draw on their rankings , apart from 6 Wildcards in the main draw and qualifying and the doubles ”
We have decided to award our Main Draw wildcards to , National men’s Runners-up Aryan Goveas , along with Maharashtra boys Dhruv Sunish and Dhruv Mulye
Our tournament is placed strategically because the winner year inevitably makes it the main draw of the Australian Open, so players who are on the fringe of the Main Draw at the Australian open make it point to enter the event in a bid to cement their spots , also being the last few Challenger events many good players want to end their year on a winning note , and many players want to acclimatize themselves for the Maharashtra open which is also played at the same venue . Over the last five years our winners have moved into the top 100 club with their wins here, We hope this year too this event will help the winner to move into the coveted Top-100 bracket,“ Mr. Patil added.
Mr. Sunder Iyer Hon Sec of MSLTA said; “The KPIT MSLTA Challenger has become popular worldwide and bigger and better players are participating regularly making the event stronger every year. With the new 48 draw format , the cut-off this year is 1170 which makes it a Challenger with opportunities to Indian Players
Our Challengers Consistency on the ATP Challenger calendar has won us accolades from ATP too, we are happy, having no other challenger makes this event important and it is need of the hour for our Indian players to compete at a world class level and that too on the home turf”.
Roland Herfel has been nominated ATP Supervisor for the event, while Sheetal Iyer has been appointed as the ATP Referee.
Secretary of PMDTA Abhishek Tamhane , PMDTA Treasurer Kaustubh Shah , Jayant Kadhe , Himanshu Gosavi Prashant Sutar , Shekhar Sonsale , Dhananjay Jadhav will be the other members of the organizing Committee
The qualifying round will have only 2 matches will be played on Monday November 11 alongside the main draws The Finals will be played on Sunday 17 November.
The winner of the KPIT Men’s Challenger will get $7,200 (Rs 5,10,000) and gain 80 ATP points, while the runners up will get $4,240 (Rs. 3,00,000) and 48 ATP points.
Apart from the tournament proper, the event adds up a host of tennis festive activities for all segments under the Pune Tennis Festival . The events include PMDTA Junior Gold Series event , PCLTA PMDTA Senior tennis event , and a Wildcard event for women’s tennis players from Maharashtra . a pune coaches Workshop which will be attended by 110 coaches from Pune region will also be held during the event .
Following are the main draw list:
1 Prajnesh Gunneswaran,IND 94 , 2., James Duckworth AUS 110 3 Sumit Nagal IND 129 , 4. Steven Diez, CAN 136 , 5 Jay Clarke, GBR 180 , , 6 Ramkumar Ramanathan, IND 199 , 7 Roberto Ortega- Olmedo 246 8 Sasikumar Mukund, IND 248
Other Indians in the main draw Saketh Myneni IND 266 , Sidharth Rawat 520 , Arjun Kadhe, IND 552 , Manish Sureshkumar 715 , N Vijay Sundar Prashanth 988 , Kunal Anand 1022 , Adil Kalyanpur 1025 ,Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha 1097 , Anirudh Chandrasekar 1177
PAST WINNERS: KPIT ATP CHALLENGER
Singles
2014: Yuichi Sugita (Japan) b Adrián Menéndez-Maceiras (Spain ) 6–7 (1–7), 6–4, 6–4
2015: Yuki Bhambri (India) b Evgeny Donskoy (Russia ) 6–2, 7–6 (7–4)
2016: Sadio Doumbia (France) b Prajnesh Gunneswaran (India) 4–6, 6–4, 6–3
2017: Yuki Bhambri(India) b Ramkumar Ramanathan 4–6, 6–3, 6–4
2018 : Elias Ymer(Bel) b Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-2,7-5
Doubles
2014: Saketh Myneni / Sanam Singh (India ) b Sanchai / Sonchat Ratiwatana (Thailand) 6–3, 6–2.
2015: Gerard Granollers / Adrián Menéndez-Maceiras (Spain) b Maximilian Neuchrist (Austria)/ Divij Sharan (India ) 1–6, 6–3, [10–6]
2016: Purav Raja/ Divij Sharan (India) b Luca Margaroli (Swi)/ Hugo Nys (France) 3–6, 6–3, [11–9]
2017: Tomislav Brkic/ Ante Pavic b Pedro Martinez/ Adrián Menéndez Maceiras 6-1,7-6(5)
2018 : N Vijay Sundar Prashanth / Ramkumar Ramnathan b Hsieh Che Ng- Peng/ Yang Psu-Hua (Tpe) 7-6(3),6-7(5),10-7
ATP POINTS & PRIZE MONEY
Winner Finalist Semi-F Quarter-F R/16 R/32 R/48
Ranking Points 80 48 29 15 7 3 0
Singles $ 7,200 4,240 2,510 1,460 860 520 260
Doubles $ 3,100 1,800 1,080 640 360 — —
