Bengaluru, February 12, 2024: The Indian Davis Cup team, which defeated Pakistan resoundingly on their own turf recently, was felicitated during the impressive inauguration ceremony of the DafaNews Bengaluru Open 2024 at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) Stadium in Bengaluru on Monday.

The main draw of the tournament was inaugurated by Manjunath Prasad, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Youth Empowerment and Sport, Government of Karnataka in the presence of chief guest R Ashoka, President Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association and Leader of Opposition, Legislative Assembly of Karnataka.

“It’s a proud moment for the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association to have Davis Cup stars participating at the DafaNews Bengaluru Open 2024. Their achievement in Pakistan was historic and inspiring. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the entire team for their remarkable victory in this historic match and we look forward to celebrating many more successes in the future,” said R Ashoka, President Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association and Leader of Opposition, Legislative Assembly of Karnataka.

The Indian team thrashed Pakistan 4-0 to secure their place in the Davis Cup World Group I earlier this month. The members of the winning team Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sriram Balaji, Saketh Myneni and Nikki K Poonacha were present at the felicitation ceremony as they will also feature in the ongoing tournament.

“We welcome all of you to the sixth edition of Bengaluru Open 2024 and wish you all the best. It will be an exciting week for the fans as top players will be in action, competing for the coveted title,” said Manjunath Prasad, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Youth Empowerment and Sport, Government of Karnataka.

The prestigious ATP Challenger Tour 100 event, organised by KSLTA, will be played from February 12-18 with the likes of star Indian player Sumit Nagal, who broke into the ATP Top-100 ranking, former World No. 25 Vasek Pospisil of Canada and others vying for honours.

Bengaluru, February 11, 2024: Rising Indian player Karan Singh fought his heart out against second seed Dan Added as the home players endured a tough day in the opening round of the singles qualifiers at the DafaNews Bangalore Open 2024 at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Wild card entrant 20-year-old Karan made life tough for his French rival, fighting tooth and nail in a gruelling contest before losing  6-7(3), 7-5, 6-7(9) in the opening round that lasted two hours and 46 minutes.

Sasikumar Mukund also fell 4-6, 3-6 to fourth seed Italian S Vincent Ruggeri.

Former national champion Siddarth Vishwakarma, who entered the field as an alternate, also battled hard against seventh seed Ukrainian Eric Vanshelboim but eventually lost 4-6, 4-6.

The prestigious tournament is being organised by Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA). Final will be played on February 18. 

Two more Indian wild cards — Niki Poonacha and Adil Kalyanpur — also could not make the most of the opportunity, making an early exit.

Poonacha, who made a winning Davis Cup debut last week in Islamabad, also exited the event with a 3-6, 4-6 defeat against top seed Austrian Bernard Tomic, who was once a Top-20 player on the Tour.

Adil lost 4-6, 3-6 to eighth seed Korean Yun Seong Chung.  Moving to the next round were French Enzo Wallart and South African Kris Van Wyk. Wallart set aside the challenge of Japanese sixth seed Kaichi Uchida while Van Wyk pushed out Poland’s Olaf Pieczkowski 6-3 6-3.

The main draw will begin on Monday as the opening ceremony will be attended by chief guest R Ashoka, leader of opposition, Legislative Assembly of Karnataka and President, Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association and inaugurated by Manjunath Prasad, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports Government of Karnataka.

Bengaluru, February 8: The Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) is pleased to announce a wild card for talented Prjawal Dev in the singles main draw of the DafaNews Bengaluru Open.

The 27-year Dev was also named a reserve in the Indian Davis Cup team for tie against Pakistan.

Dev had a decent 2023 season in which he ended a runner-up at the ITF15k event in Thailand and also reached the semi-finals in three other tournaments, including Mysuru.

“I would like to thank KSLTA for the wonderful opportunity to play in the main draw. I am privileged to receive the wild card and I am looking forward to the tournament. Hopefully I can do well. I am coming off a good week in Chennai and hopefully I continue with that,” said Prajwal Dev, currently ranked 611.

“Expectation is there and I am hopeful I will live up to that,” he said.     

Having the Davis Cuppers in action, the KSLTA will soon announce more main draw wild cards for the tournament which will conclude on February 18.

“Prajwal has the potential to break into top-500 soon and we want to give him an opportunity to achieve the feat at the earliest. He is a very talented player, and support at right time is what a player needs. Our endeavour is to support local talent,” said Sunil Yajaman, the Tournament Director.

“We are delighted to give this opportunity to Prajwal. Hopefully he will make full use of it,” Yajaman further added.