Maharashtra Open tennis: India’s Mukund Sasikumar gets wildcard entry

India’s top-ranked singles player Mukund Sasikumar was handed a wildcard for the Maharashtra Open 2023 ATP 250 tennis tournament, which begins on Saturday, at Balewadi Stadium in Pune.  

Though only 340th in the ATP rankings, Mukund Sasikumar showed decent form in 2022. He won the ITF Futures event in Portugal in September - his first title in five years, and also finished runners-up at an ITF 15 event in Egypt earlier in December.

Mukund Sasikumar started Maharashtra Open 2022 from the qualifiers but was defeated by Turkey’s Altug Celikbilek in the first qualifying round.

Former junior Australian Open champion Yuki Bhambri of India will start from qualifiers this year having made the cut through his protective ranking - a provision for ranked players making a comeback after a long period of injury. 

Last edition’s semi-finalist Elias Ymer of Sweden and world No. 39 Peter Gojowczyk from Germany will also begin from qualifiers.

The singles main draw at the Maharashtra Open 2023, meanwhile, consists of 17 of the top 100 players, including the former Grand Slam champion Marin Cilic of Croatia and last year’s runner-up Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland.

Yuki Bhambri will also feature in doubles with Saketh Myneni while Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna will partner with the Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp. Ramkumar Ramanathan will team up with Mexico’s Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela.

Last year, Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan defeated top seeds Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith of Australia in the final to win the Maharashtra Open 2022 doubles title. However, the duo opted to team up with different partners this time.

Two-time US Open champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury will be the top seeds in doubles. 

Maharashtra Open is South Asia’s only premiere ATP Tour event and this year’s event will be the tournament’s fifth edition. It will conclude on January 7.