The WTA Chennai Open Tennis Championship begins today at the SDAT Tennis Stadium with the qualifying rounds, marking the start of one of the city’s most prestigious sporting events. The stadium has received a major facelift for the tournament, which also coincides with the centenary celebrations of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association.Four Indian players will compete in the 16-player singles qualifying draw. Ankita Raina and Riya Bhatia have received direct entries, while 20-year-old Vaishnavi Adkar and 16-year-old Diya Ramesh have been awarded wildcards. Matches will start at 3.00 p.m. and continue under floodlights.
Raina will open her campaign on Centre Court against fifth seed Mei Yamaguchi of Japan. Bhatia will face sixth seed Caroline Wernerger of Germany, while Adkar meets Japan’s second seed Mai Hontama. Diya Ramesh, one of India’s promising juniors, will take on Australia’s third seed Arina Rodionova. Japan’s Nao Hibino headlines the qualifying draw as the top seed and will begin her campaign against Thailand’s Thasaporn Naklo.
Players must win two matches in the qualifying rounds to secure one of the four available spots in the 32-player main draw, which begins on October 27. The finals in both singles and doubles will be played on November 2.
Germany’s Tatjana Maria and Croatia’s Donna Vekić will lead the singles main draw, which also features three Indian wildcard entrants — Sahaja Yamalapalli, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty, and Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi. Czech star Linda Fruhvirtová, the 2022 Chennai Open champion, returns to defend her title.