Marin Cilic heads strong field as Pune ATP event back in pre-Aussie Open slot

Marin Cilic’s India connection goes back to more than a decade, from when he won back-to-back ATP 250 titles in Chennai (2009/2010). However, it’s been five years since the 2014 US Open champion last came to India. One factor was the rejig of the ATP Tour’s India pitstop in the tennis calendar even as the tournament was shifted from Chennai to Pune.

The ATP Tata Open Maharashtra is now back in its season-opening slot, and the Croatian too is in India after a 2018 semi-final run.

The 34-year-old is the top draw at the ATP 250 event in Pune that kicks off at the Balewadi Sports Complex on Monday. The world No 17 leads the 28-man field that has 14 players ranked in the top 100, six of them in the top 50. The doubles section is headed by American Rajeev Ram and UK’s Joe Salisbury. Placed third and fourth respectively in doubles rankings, they are winners of the 2022 US Open and ATP Finals.

It’s a relatively strong field that mirrors the days when the likes of Carlos Moya, Ivan Ljubicic, Cilic, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic and Kevin Anderson picked India to kickstart the fresh season and tune up for the Australian Open in mid-January.

For a couple of years, Tata Open Maharashtra lost that selling point. The 2020 and 2022 editions—the 2021 event was not held due to the pandemic—were held in late January and early February, after the Australian Open when most top players take a breather or look to play elsewhere. It had a telling impact on the overall draw which, though featuring some notable names in Benoit Paire (2020), Aslan Karatsev and Lorenzo Musetti (both 2022), did not have the depth of this edition.

Russian Karatsev, the top seed last year, is seeded eighth this time. Above him are second seed and 35th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp, the Dutchman who reached the 2021 US Open quarter-final as a qualifier before losing to eventual champion Daniil Medvedev, and 2022 Tata Open finalist Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland, seeded third and ranked 40th. There’s also the highly rated 22-year-old Argentine Sebastian Baez, the former junior No 1 whose 2022 season had a maiden ATP title in Estoril, and world No 50 Alex Molcan of Slovakia.

From the unseeded ones watch out for Tim van Rijthoven, the 25-year-old Dutchman ranked 111. In June, the then world No 205 produced one of the most out-of-the-blue moments of the season in beating top-ranked Medvedev in the ‘s-Hertogenbosch final and becoming the lowest-ranked tour-level winner of 2022. He went on to make the Wimbledon fourth round and take a set off eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

“We have a very strong field this time, perhaps one of the best this event has seen,” said Prashant Sutar, the tournament director. “The tournament returning to January first week is really satisfying for us as organisers because of the more exciting competition and presence of bigger names.”

Speaking of exciting, Manas Dhamne, all of 15, will raise the curtain on Monday’s centre court action against Riyadh-born American Michael Mmoh. Handed the third and last wild card, it will be a big step up for the bright Indian prospect who has played a solitary match at the ATP Challenger level. Competing with the world No 113 in his home city ought to be an experience for the 2022 ITF Asia/Oceania junior champion.

At the other end of the wild card spectrum are Sumit Nagal and Mukund Sasikumar, two 25-year-olds at different junctures of their careers. Nagal, coming off a season grappling with rehab and return after a hip surgery, will hope for a better start to 2023 while Mukund, the India singles No 1 at 340, will attempt to move a level higher in the pro ladder. Nagal has a stern opening-round test in 54th-ranked Serbian Filip Krajinovic while Mukund faces Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli.

For much of last season the top Indian tag rested with Ramkumar Ramanathan, who has since fallen to 435 in the rankings. But like this successful qualifying weekend in Pune showed—he beat Otto Virtanen (world No 175) and Mattia Bellucci (153)—those rankings have often not matched the potential of his game. Ramkumar has earned the right to play Pedro Martinez, the 62nd-ranked Spaniard.