Ankita Raina will be in action. (Courtesy: Ankita Raina/X)
Players from 31 countries will be seen in action at the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) and Cricket Club of India (CCI)-organised L&T Mumbai Open, which returns to the tennis calendar after a gap of six years.
An exciting line-up at the tournament”s third edition will include three top 100 players in the singles and six top 100 players in the doubles event, which is a part of the WTA $125K series.
The tournament will be played at the newly laid tennis courts at the Cricket Club of India. Qualifying matches will be played starting February 3rd and 4th while the main draw action will start on Monday, February 5th, 2024. The finals will be played on Sunday, February 11th.
American Kayla Day, the 2016 US Open girls singles champion and world No. 82, will lead the 32-player field, along with Japan”s Nao Hibino, winner of three WTA Tour singles titles, and former French Open semi-finalist Tamara Zidansek, ranked 97th in the world.
Other players in the field include American Katie Volynets, Australians Arina Rodionova and Kimberly Birrell and Brazil”s Laura Pigossi.
16-year-old Russian Alina Korneeva, who was the top-ranked junior in the world last year, and reached the third round of the 2024 Australian Open women”s singles event just 12 months after winning the girls singles title, will also be seen in action in Mumbai.
India’s top-ranked doubles player Prarthana Thombare and Dutch partner Arianne Hartono have a direct entry into the doubles event. Wild cards for the tournament are expected to be announced in the coming days.
This is the third edition of the WTA Mumbai Open with past singles champions including world No 2 Sabalenka (2017) and Thailand”s Luksika Kumkhum (2018).
The tournament”s sponsors include L&T India is the title sponsor of the event. While the event is supported by MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority), other sponsors of the tournament include Department of Sports, Cisco, MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority), Enerzal, Radio City, Amrete Water and Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital.
