Leo Borg set to make debut at DafaNews Bengaluru Open 2023 with wildcard entry

The son of legendary Bjorn Borg will be in action against Yu Hsiou Hsu.

Leo Borg, son of legendary Bjorn Borg, handed a wildcard entry into the main draw of the DafaNews Bengaluru Open 2023, starting from February 20 at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) stadium. 

The singles main draw was announced on Saturday (February 18), which featured Tseng Chun-Hsin, the 21-year-old World No 132 from Taipei, as the top seed for the DafaNews Bengaluru Open 2023.

Tseng will open his campaign against Ferreira Silva of Portugal on February 20 while the 19-year-old Leo Borg, currently World No 511 will be seen in action against Taipei’s World No 200 Yu Hsiou Hsu. 

Leo had entered the Round of 32 in the Chennai Open last week where he lost to Serbia’s 19-year-old Hamad Medjedovic, a pupil of 22-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic. Medjedovic too will be seen in action on Day 1 of the Bengaluru Open, facing a Qualifier. 

From an Indian perspective, two players will be seen in action on the first day of the main draw. Also, Sumit Nagar and Karnataka lad SD Prajwal Dev were handed wildcard entry to the tournament. 

Sumit Nagal will face Vietnamese player Ly Hoang Nam while Prajwal will lock horns with one of the Qualifiers on Day 1. 

James Duckworth of Australia, who was ranked as high as 47 in ATP, is seeded second in the Bengaluru Open. Duckworth had reached the quarterfinals of Chennai Open before losing to compatriot Max Purcell, who had won the 2022 Wimbledon doubles title with Matthew Ebden. 

7 Indians in Qualifiers from Sunday

The Qualifiers will start at the KSLTA Courts on Sunday (February 18). As many as 7 Indian players will feature in the Qualifiers. 

Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran will also be the main attractions of the Qualifiers. Prajnesh will face Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Lock, while Ramkumar will be up against Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan. 

Other than these two, Indian talents such as M Ganesh, Dalwinder Singh, K Tyagi, M Sasikumar and Sidharth Rawat will vie for a spot in the main draw. 

ORDER OF PLAY (QUALIFIERS) - SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023

CENTER COURT Starts 11:00 amQualifying - [WC] M. Ganesh (IND) vs [11] C. Sanchez Jover (ESP) Qualifying - [5] P. Gunneswaran (IND) vs B. Lock (ZIM) Qualifying - [1] Y. Uchiyama (JPN) vs R. Ramanathan (IND) Qualifying - [3] J. Clarke (GBR) vs [Alt] C. Sinclair (NMI)

COURT 1 Starts 11:00 amQualifying - [6] J. Jung (TPE) vs V. Orlov (UKR) Qualifying - [WC] D. Singh (IND) vs [8] J. McCabe (AUS) Qualifying - [4] N. Milojevic (SRB) vs [WC] K. Tyagi (IND) Qualifying - A. Santillan (AUS) vs [7] A. Kachmazov

COURT 2 Starts 11:00 amQualifying - M. Sasikumar (IND) vs [12] A. Paulson (CZE) Qualifying - [2] H. Moriya (JPN) vs [WC] S. Rawat (IND) Qualifying - D. Palan (CZE) vs [9] G. Mpetshi Perricard (FRA) Qualifying - D. Kelly (AUS) vs [10] Y. Chung (KOR)