News

ATP Challenger returns to the Garden City Bengaluru after twelve (12) years with the Air Asia Open. India’s Yuki Bhambri with an ATP ranking of 104 will spearhead the challenge in this ATP $50,000 Challenger, organized by Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA).

The draw also has five other Indians in the main draw and Somdev Devvarman is expected to be one of the strong contender apart from other Davis Cuppers Saketh Myneni, Sanam Singh, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Vijay Sunder Prashant would be vying for honors.

The Air Asia Open starts on Monday, 19 October and the final is slated for Sunday, 25 October 2015. The qualifiers on October 17 and 18 will precede the main draw.

Spain’s Adrian Menendez-Maceiras will be the No.2 with a 132 ATP ranking amongst players from 15 countries. Adrian Menendez-Maceiras and James Ward, the second and third seeds at Bengaluru are part of their respective country’s Davis Cup squad for 2015.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. M. Laxminarayan IAS, Principal Secretary, GOK & Chairman, Organising Committee said, “Karnataka has a cultural history that has supported sports. Events like the Air Asia Open go a long way in encouraging our own backyard talent and helps build Bengaluru and Karnataka as a top International sporting destination thus promoting sports tourism. We at KSLTA are proud to host this ATP Challenger event. We hope our boys grab the opportunity to showcase their talent and perform to potential to better their own ATP rankings. We expect this event to be a treat to Bengalureans as we would witness the top Indian players and tomorrow’s champions in action. We welcome Air Asia as the title sponsor of this event and thank them profusely for their support and all the other sponsors. I take pleasure in announcing a Wild Card for Karnataka’s top player Suraj Prabodh from Mysore.

The Air Asia Open offers $7,200 (Rs.4,71,00) and 80 ATP points to the winner while the runners up gets $4,053 ( Rs. 2,65,000) and 55 ATP points. The Semifinalist will get $2,216 (Rs 145,000 each) and 33 points, while the Quarter Finalists stand to earn $1,267 (Rs. 83,000 each) and 17 points. The First round winner gets $ 760 (Rs. 50,000 each) and 8 ATP points while the Main Draw player gets $444 (Rs 29000 each) and 0 points. However the qualifier for the Main draw gets 5 ATP points.

While expressing excitement about Air Asia’s association with this event, the Commercial Director of Air Asia India, Mr. Gaurav Rathore said “Sports is a constant vertical that Air Asia has been supporting and is passionate about for a very long time. There's a long list of sports that we have associated with in the past with a single-minded objective of being out there where the action is. Tennis is something that is hugely followed in our country and coming on board as the Title Sponsor for ATP gives the entire team at Air Asia India immense pride. We are glad to be associate with a brand like ATP which is widely followed all over the world."

The return of an ATP Challenger to the IT capital of India after a gap of 12 years re-asserts Bengaluru’s position as an international tennis destination in the world. Bengaluru has been in the forefront of hosting Tennis of international stature for a long time having conducted a plethora of events like the Davis Cup, WTA Tier-II, Tier-III and ITF professional circuit tennis tournaments.