Cilic and van de Zandschulp headline the line the field

A file photo of Marian Cilic.
| Photo Credit: AP

Marin Cilic will headline what appears to be the marginally heavier of the halves at the Tata Open Maharashtra. At the draw ceremony which was conducted on Saturday here, it emerged that the 2014 US Open champion has the fast-rising Argentine Sebastian Baez (World No.43) for company.

Also in the top half are Aslan Karatsev, the 2021 Australian Open semifinalist, and Marco Cecchinato who famously beat Novak Djokovic in the 2018 Roland-Garros quarterfinals.

The bottom portion of the field will be led by the hard-hitting Dutchman and World No.35 Botic van de Zandschulp. Finland’s Emil Ruusuvruori, last year’s runner-up in Pune who is now up to No.40, will be his biggest challenger.

Also on this side of the draw are Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic, once ranked as high as 26, and the talented 21-year-old from Chinese Taipei, Chun-Hsin Tseng, who won the junior French Open-Wimbledon double in 2018.

The three Indian wildcards – Mukund Sasikumar, Sumit Nagal, and Manas Manoj Dhamne – have all been clubbed with de Zandschulp, Ruusuvuori & Co. Nagal will open against Krajinovic while Mukund will start against a qualifier.

Dhamne, who turned just 15 on Thursday, will get his first taste of big-ticket tennis with an outing against American Michael Mmoh. The local lad has had a promising junior career, winning the ITF Asia/Oceania Juniors Championship in September to become the then top-ranked Indian at 82.

The experience is sure to hold Dhamne in good stead ahead of his slated junior Grand Slam debut at the 2023 Australian Open.

In Saturday’s first round of qualifying matches, Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan progressed while Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Aditya Vishal Balsekar and Sidharth Rawat bit the dust.

Qualifying results (first round): Flavio Cobolli (Ita) bt Aditya Vishal Balsekar 6-3, 6-0; Elias Ymer (Swe) bt Miljan Zekic (Srb) 3-0 (retd.); Mattia Bellucci (Ita) bt Vladyslav Orlov (Ukr) 6-4, 6-4; Maximilian Marterer (Ger) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-5; Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Otto Virtanen (Fin) 2-6, 7-5, 6-2; Nikola Milojevic (Srb) bt Nicholas David Lonel (Rou) 6-3, 6-2; Yuki Bhambri bt Diego Hidalgo (Ecu) 6-2, 6-2; Zdenek Kolar (Cze) bt Sidharth Rawat 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-1.

EOM