Chennai, Aug 18 : The 29th ranked, Alison Riske Amritraj of USA,
who is making a comeback, will lead an impressive field in the first ever
Chennai Open WTA-250 International Women’s Tennis Championship
to be held at the SDAT Stadium here from September 12 to 18.
Alison Riske is the niece of former Indian Davis Cupper and Tamil Nadu
Tennis Association President Vijay Amritraj.
Commenting on the list of players released by the WTA today, Vijay
Amritraj said Alison Riske is followed by Elise Mertens of Belgium, a
semifinalist at the Australian Open in 2018 and doubles winner with
Sabalenka at Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2021 and Caroline
Garcia of Spain been the singles quarterfinalist and doubles Champion
at the French Open in 2017 and 2022.
The list has seven players in the Top 100.
There are records of a kind being rewritten here as a mother of two,
seventh seed Tatja na Maria of Germany is in the fray along with a
young and upcoming 15-year-old sensation Linda Fruhvirtova from
Czech Republic.
“It reminds me of the debut of Rafael Nadal at the age of 16 at the
Chennai Open then”, Vijay said.
“With a Women*s event is being held in Chennai for the very first time,
it looks to me that the Chennai Open will be an exciting affair”, she said.
He said the main draw will consist of 32 players, including 21 direct
entries, one special exempt, four wild cards and six qualifiers.
The Qualifying draw of 24 players consists of 20 direct acceptances
and four wild cards.
Following is the list of 21 direct entries in the main draw:
Alison Riske Amritraj (USA), Elise Mertens -Rank 33 (Belgium), Caroline
Garcia -35 (France), Varvara Gracheva-60, Magda Linette-70 (Poland),
Rebecca Peterson-87 (Sweden), Tatjana Maria-93 (Germany), Qiang
Wang-103 (China), Chloe Paquet-111 (France), Rebecca Marino -113
(Canada), Moyuka Uchuma-131 (Japan), Oksana Selekhmeteva-145,
Anna Blinkova-151, Anastasia Gasanova-156, Linda Fruhvirtova-157
(Czech Republic), Katarzyna Kawa-160 (Poland), Yanina Wickmayer
-162 (Belarus), Victoria Jimenez-165 (And), Arianne Hartono-166
(The Netherlands), Joanne Zuger-167 (Switzerland), Katie Swan-177
(Great Britain).
