Ankita Raina given wild card entry at Chennai Open

CHENNAI: India’s number one ranked women’s tennis player Ankita Raina on Tuesday was awarded a wild card entry for the upcoming Chennai Open which is scheduled to be held here from September 12-18.

Along with the 29-year-old, the 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard of Canada will also be taking part in the WTA 250 tournament as a wild card entrant.

“The wildcards for the 32-player singles main draw have been given to Eugenie Bouchard and Ankita Raina. The two other (wildcards) will be given to anyone in the top-20 who is willing to come and play here,” TNTA president and former Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj said at a press conference here.

Amritraj said that the wildcards were awarded to both Raina and Bouchard in the women’s singles draw as per the WTA rules.

World number 29 Alison-Riske Amritraj and Belgium’s Elise Mertens of Belgium (world rank 32) would be among the other leading names in the fray.

Asked if the WTA event could be a regular feature in Chennai, Amritraj said, “We need to see how it goes this year. We have got the licence for one year. Also, with the desire to host the ATP event, we will have to see how it can be done. But we could end up having it at the same time.”

“There is a great opportunity between the events in Dubai and Doha in 2024 with regard to hosting a WTA event here. We are looking at a potential WTA 500 event in 2024. We have to see if we can squeeze it in,” he added.