Marin Cilic’s India connection is going again to greater than a decade, from when he gained back-to-back ATP 250 titles in Chennai (2009/2010). However, it is been 5 years because the 2014 US Open champion closing got here to India. One issue used to be the rejig of the ATP Tour’s India pitstop within the tennis calendar even because the event used to be shifted from Chennai to Pune.
The ATP Tata Open Maharashtra is now again in its season-opening slot, and the Croatian too is in India after a 2018 semi-final run.
The 34-year-old is the highest draw on the ATP 250 match in Pune that kicks off on the Balewadi Sports Complex on Monday. The global No 17 leads the 28-man box that has 14 gamers ranked within the peak 100, six of them within the peak 50. The doubles phase is headed by way of American Rajeev Ram and UK’s Joe Salisbury. Placed 3rd and fourth respectively in doubles scores, they’re winners of the 2022 US Open and ATP Finals.
It’s a rather sturdy box that mirrors the times when the likes of Carlos Moya, Ivan Ljubicic, Cilic, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic and Kevin Anderson picked India to kickstart the contemporary season and track up for the Australian Open in mid-January.
For a few years, Tata Open Maharashtra misplaced that promoting level. The 2020 and 2022 editions—the 2021 match used to be now not held because of the pandemic—had been held in past due January and early February, after the Australian Open when maximum peak gamers take a breather or glance to play in different places. It had a telling have an effect on at the total draw which, despite the fact that that includes some notable names in Benoit Paire (2020), Aslan Karatsev and Lorenzo Musetti (each 2022), didn’t have the intensity of this version.
Russian Karatsev, the highest seed closing yr, is seeded 8th this time. Above him are 2d seed and Thirty fifth-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp, the Dutchman who reached the 2021 US Open quarter-final as a qualifier earlier than dropping to eventual champion Daniil Medvedev, and 2022 Tata Open finalist Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland, seeded 3rd and ranked fortieth. There’s additionally the extremely rated 22-year-old Argentine Sebastian Baez, the previous junior No 1 whose 2022 season had a maiden ATP identify in Estoril, and global No 50 Alex Molcan of Slovakia.
From the unseeded ones be careful for Tim van Rijthoven, the 25-year-old Dutchman ranked 111. In June, the then global No 205 produced one of the vital out-of-the-blue moments of the season in beating top-ranked Medvedev within the ‘s-Hertogenbosch last and turning into the lowest-ranked tour-level winner of 2022. He went directly to make the Wimbledon fourth around and take a collection off eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
“We have a very strong field this time, perhaps one of the best this event has seen,” stated Prashant Sutar, the event director. “The tournament returning to January first week is really satisfying for us as organizers because of the more exciting competition and presence of bigger names.”
Speaking of thrilling, Manas Dhamne, all of 15, will elevate the curtain on Monday’s heart courtroom motion towards Riyadh-born American Michael Mmoh. Handed the 3rd and closing wild card, it’s going to be a large step up for the brilliant Indian prospect who has performed a solitary fit on the ATP Challenger point. Competing with the sector No 113 in his house town must be an enjoy for the 2022 ITF Asia/Oceania junior champion.
At the opposite finish of the wild card spectrum are Sumit Nagal and Mukund Sasikumar, two 25-year-olds at other junctures in their careers. Nagal, coming off a season grappling with rehab and go back after a hip surgical treatment, will hope for a greater begin to 2023 whilst Mukund, the India singles No 1 at 340, will try to transfer a degree upper within the professional ladder. Nagal has a stern opening-round take a look at in 54th-ranked Serbian Filip Krajinovic whilst Mukund faces Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli.
For a lot of closing season the highest Indian tag rested with Ramkumar Ramanathan, who has since fallen to 435 within the scores. But like this a success qualifying weekend in Pune confirmed—he beat Otto Virtanen (global No 175) and Mattia Bellucci (153)—the ones scores have ceaselessly now not matched the possibility of his sport. Ramkumar has earned the suitable to play Pedro Martinez, the 62nd-ranked Spaniard.