Bouchard, star attraction on opening day

CHENNAI: Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard will be the star attraction on the opening day of the inaugural WTA Chennai Open 250 as she faces Joanne Zuger on the centre court at the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Nungambakkam here on Monday.

The Chennai Open will be the Canadian’s third tournament since undergoing surgery for a shoulder injury, which forced her to stay away from action for more than a year.

On the first day of the event, there will be local interest too. Karman Kaur Thandi, India’s No.2 in women’s singles, will run into Frenchwoman Chloe Pacquet on the main court.

The last match on centre court for the day will feature Rebecca Peterson and the 17-year-old Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva. Besides three matches on the main court, six contests – five in singles and one in doubles – will be held on the opening day.

In general, the withdrawals of Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, who lost in the semi-finals of the US Open, and Belgium’s Elise Mertens due to scheduling issues and injury respectively came as huge blows to the tournament.

Meanwhile, World No.29 Alison Riske-Amritraj will headline the singles competition and will be the favourite in a field that includes only a handful of top-100 players. Having played extremely well to improve her ranking from outside 50 to 29 in 2022, the American would be hoping to end the season on a good note.

Trjandramulia enters main draw

Olivia Trjandramulia progressed to the main draw with an upset win over top seed Yuki Naito in the second and final qualifying round here on Sunday. The Australian defeated the Japanese by a scoreline of 6-3, 7-6(9).

RESULTS:

Qualifiers: Second round: Olivia Trjandramulia bt Yuki Naito 6-3, 7-6(9); Nao Hibino bt Daniela Vismane 7-5, 6-0; Kyoka Okamura bt Lina Glushko 6-3, 6-1; Mariia Tkacheva bt Isabella Shinikova 6-4, 6-2; En Shuo Liang bt Justina Mikulskyte 6-1, 6-1; Jana Fett bt Peangtarn Plipuech 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.