Maharashtra Open: Top-seeded Marin Cilic gets 1st round bye, 15-year-old Manas gets wildcard

Pune: Former US Open champion and current world No. 17 Marin Cilic will headline men’s singles event comprising 17 top-hundred 100 at the fifth edition of Tata Open Maharashtra beginning from Saturday with qualifying rounds. Top-seeded Cilic will kick-start his campaign in the second round along with the last edition’s finalist Emil Ruusuvuori, world No. 35 Botic van de Zandschulp and No. 43 Sebastian Baez, all of whom have received byes in the respective opening rounds. In the doubles, defending champions Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan will play against each other in the opening round. Bopanna will play along with van de Zandschulp while Ramanathan has partnered with Mexican Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela. Top-seeded pair of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury will be up against Baez and Luis David Martinez. Rising India star Manas Dhamne, who recently turned 15 has been given a wildcard in the singles main draw of South Asia’s only ATP 250 event. The Pune-born teenager is the current Asian Junior champion and one of the youngest to clinch that title. Dhamne has also been selected for the Grand Slam Player Grant Programme 2023. “Manas Dhamne has been making rapid strides. He has a potential to be the next Indian star and we are committed to give a world-class platform to players like him, helping them bolster their growth at the international level,” said Sunder Iyer, joint secretary of All India Tennis Association (AITA) and secretary of Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MLTA). In May, Dhamne appeared in the Challenger event in Italy and he also played two ITF events in Tunisia earlier this month. He will face the world No. 113 American Michael Mmoh in the opening round match on Monday. Read all the Latest News ****, Trending News ****, Cricket News ****, Bollywood News ****, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook****, Twitter and Instagram****.