Wild cards for Rutuja, Ankita, Zeel and Karman in L&T Mumbai Open
Maharashtra’s Rutuja Bhosale, Gujarat’s Ankita Raina and Zeel Desai, along with Delhi’s Karman Kaur Thandi have been awarded wild cards into the main draw of the USD 125,000 WTA L&T Mumbai Open, which begins at the CCI courts with the qualifying rounds on Friday.
Ankita, at 281, is currently the highest ranked Indian singles player in the world, having 5 ITF singles and 7 ITF doubles titles to her credit. Fed Cup player Karman, ranked 307, has also been making steady progress up the singles ranking ladder.
Maharashtra’s Rutuja, who returned after playing US college tennis for Texas A&M made an immediate impact, winning her first professional title in June at the ITF Futures in Aurangabad and followed it up with her second ITF title in Thailand in September. Zeel Desai is the highest ranked junior in the country, currently at 790 in the women’s singles ranking.
Meanwhile AP’s Pranjala Yadlapadli and Goa’s Natasha Palha have been awarded wild cards into the qualifying rounds, where they join Nidhi Chulmula and Riya Bhatia. Pranjala takes on the top seed Ana Bodgan of Romania, while Natasha will face off with the 2nd seed from Israel Denis Khazaniuk. Riya Bhatia, ranked 534, will meet the fifth seed from France, Alize Lim, while Nidhi Chilumula of Telangana will play 7th seed Anna Morgina of Russia.
The main draw matches begin on Monday.