ITF Mysuru Open: Federer-beater Donskoy top draw in singles field; Ramkumar among 8 Indians in fray

Mysuru, March 26 (IANS) Evgeny Donskoy will headline the singles main draw which includes eight Indians for the ITF Mysuru Open 2023, scheduled to start at the Mysuru Tennis Club here on Monday.

The 32-year-old Donskoy, who was once ranked 65 in the world, made the headlines in 2017 when he earned the biggest win of his career by beating tennis great Roger Federer in Dubai. The Russian also has wins over top tennis stars Daniil Medvedev and Canadian big-server Milos Raonic before they broke into the Top 10.

The USD 25,000 event-hosted by the Karnataka Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) and sponsored by Cycle Pure Agarbathi, also marks the return of ITF tennis to Mysuru after eight years. India's Ramkumar Ramanathan had won the title when Mysuru hosted an ITF tournament, an F6 Futures event, last time in 2015, the organisers informed in a release on Sunday.

"Mysuru has always been a premier centre for tennis in India and we are happy to bring a top-level ITF tennis tournament after eight years. I am certain that the event will go a long way in inspiring youth and furthering the development of tennis in the city as well as in Karnataka. We are confident of conducting a successful tournament here that will also be an enjoyable experience for the fans," said Maheshwar Rao, Honorary Secretary, KSLTA.

The tournament will also see other top international players including Vietnam's Ly Hoang Nam, a World No. 245, and USA's Oliver Crawford.

India No. 2 Mukund Sasikumar will lead the challenge for the hosts as Ramkumar, Sidharth Rawat, Digvijay Pratap Singh, Manish Sureshkumar, Niki Poonacha and Karan Singh will also be vying for the title.

Mysuru player SD Prajwal Dev too will be eyeing an ITF title after his good runs in recent events. There will be more local representation as Mysore lads Manish Ganesh and R. Suraj Prabodh were handed wildcard entries to the singles main draw. Bengaluru lad Rishi Reddy too has received a wildcard entry into the singles main draw. Gujarat's Madhwin Kamath also made his way to the main draw through wildcard entry.

Sri lanka's Dharaka Ellawala has been appointed as the ITF supervisor while Peter Vijay Kumar will be the tournament director.

Ellawala, who is involved in officiating for well over‘a decade, is a 'Silver Badge' accredited referee, a rare honour awarded by the ITF.

The singles qualifiers will be played on March 26 and 27 while the main draw will begin on March 28.

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