Alison Riske heads entry list at Chennai Open

CHENNAI: The USA’s world No.29 Alison Riske-Amritraj leads the entry list for the singles event in the Chennai Open WTA 250 International tennis tournament to be held here from September 12 to 18.

Apart from Riske-Amritraj, the list of direct acceptances for the singles event includes Belgium’s Elise Mertens, who owns grand slams doubles titles, Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, a doubles champion at the French Open this year and Tatjana Maria of Germany.

Riske-Amritraj is married to Stephen Amritraj, son of former India Davis Cupper Anand Amritraj.

Maria, a mother of two children, had hogged the limelight at Wimbledon earlier this year by reaching the semifinals for the first time ever in her 47th attempt.

She was on a comeback trail following the birth of a second daughter.

Tamil Nadu Tennis Association president and Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj, was quoted as saying that the field for the first ever WTA event to be held in the city was an inspiring one.

“In the first ever WTA event to be held in Chennai we have an inspiring field. The top three players have an impressive performance to their credit. The 29th ranked, Alison Riske Amritraj, who is making an impressive comeback is leading the field followed by Elise Mertens of Belgium, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open in 2018 and doubles winner with Aryana Sabalenka at Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2021,” the TNTA president said.