Roger Federer-beater Evgeny Donskoy headlines singles field at ITF Mysuru Open 2023

The royal city of Mysuru will witness exciting tennis action as Evgeny Donskoy will headline the singles main draw, which also includes eight Indians, at the Cycle Pure Agarbathi ITF Mysuru Open 2023, scheduled at the Mysuru Tennis Club from March 27 to April 2.

The USD 25,000 event—hosted by the Karnataka Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA), also marks the return of ITF tennis to Mysuru after eight years. India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan had emerged the winner when Mysuru hosted an ITF tournament, a F6 Futures, last time in 2015.

“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 to the fans,” said Maheshwar Rao, Hon. Secretary of KSLTA.

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

“It is an honour to be associated with the tournament where a clutch of top tennis stars from India and other nations are participating. I take pride in welcoming Sporting Ambassadors from 15 countries to Mysuru. Mysuru has a strong history of tennis players with its local lad, Prahalad Srinath, going on to represent the country during the Davis Cup. I wish such kind of events will attract more youth to take up sports and bring pride to the country. I am confident that Mysuru, a city of sports aficionados, will see more such events in the future which will firmly cement the status of the city as a premier sporting hub,” said Dr KV Rajendra, Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru and the chairman of the organising committee.

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 the 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 wild card entry into the singles main draw. Gujarat’s Madhwin Kamath also made his way for 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.