Five Indian women will kick off their campaign to qualify for the main draw at the WTA Chennai Open on Saturday at the SDAT Stadium in Nungambakkam, Chennai.Rutuja Bhosale, Riya Bhatia, Sowjanya Bavisetti, Sai Chamarthi and Lakshmi Prabha Arunkumar are part of the qualifying draw for the WTA 250 event and will attempt to join India’s top two players Ankita Raina and Karman Kaur Thandi in the main draw.India’s No. 3 ranked singles player Rutuja Bhosale will take on 12th seed En-Shuo Liang, India’s No. 4 Riya Bhatia will battle against sixth seed Justina Mikulskyte, and India’s No. 5 Sowjanya Bavisetti will meet 11th seed Kyoka Okamura in the first round of the 24-player qualifying draw.Two local favourites from Tamil Nadu, Sai Chamarthi and Lakshmi Prabha Arunkumar, are also in the qualifying draw and face the top seed. Chamarthi takes on second seed Nao Hibino while 16-year-old Lakshmi Prabha Arunkumar will face top seed Yuki Naito.Players need to win two qualifying matches to secure one of six qualifying spots for the main draw of the tournament, which begins on Monday.
France’s Caroline Garcia and Belgium’s Elise Mertens have withdrawn from the WTA Chennai Open, scheduled to start on Monday in Chennai’s SDAT Tennis Stadium.
Garcia, who is ranked No 17 in the world, had to pull out of the event due to scheduling challenges. The Frenchwoman reached the semi-finals of the ongoing US Open in New York and was defeated by Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in straight sets on Thursday evening.Mertens, a former world No 12 and a former US Open semi-finalist, has pulled out due to injury. The Belgian lost in the first round of the women’s singles event at the US Open in New York last week and pulled out of her subsequent doubles first round match due to injury.