Defending champion Vaidehi Chaudhari, Karnataka's SD Prajwal Dev to lead exciting field in National Tennis Championship

Tournament to begin on Monday in New Delhi.

Defending champion Vaidehi Chaudhari and Karnataka player SD Prajwal Dev will lead the exciting field in the singles main draw at the prestigious 28th National Tennis Championship, set to begin on Monday at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi.

The 23-year-old from Gujarat, Vaidehi has been impressive this year, winning two ITF titles which also includes her maiden ITF title that she won in Gwalior in January. Currently ranked fifth in India, Vaidehi will return to the capital city to defend her title. However, she is expected to face a strong challenge in the women’s singles category which consists of talented players like Telangana’s Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty, Sandeepti Singh Rao of Haryana and Maharashtra’s Vaishnavi Adkar among others.

The men’s singles draw, on the other hand, features Prajwal Dev, who finished runner-up in ITF event in Thailand in June, along with defending champion Manish Sureshkumar of Tamil Nadu, Haryana’s Karan Singh and Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharth Vishwakarma.

Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship—organised by DCM Shriram Ltd., a leading business conglomerate, under the aegis of All India Tennis Association and Delhi Lawn Tennis Association, has witnessed the participation of renowned Indian tennis players such as Rohan Bopanna, c, Yuki Bhambri, Sania Mirza and Rutuja Bhosale in the past editions. It is India’s largest domestic tennis tournament.

The opening week of the event will feature singles and doubles categories of men, women, U-18 girls and U-18 boys as the qualifying rounds will take place on September 30 and October 1 while the main draw will be played from October 2 to 7. The tournament will go on till October 14.

It also offers an attractive prize pool of over INR 21.5 lakh along with kit allowance for the junior categories.