Chennai, Oct 29 Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Diya Ramesh were on Thursday handed wildcards for the WTA 250 Chennai Open tennis tournament qualifying rounds starting on Friday.
Bhamidipaty is currently ranked 640 in the world and she is making a comeback after recovering from a back injury. Last year, she reached the second round of the main draw.
Diya, an upcoming youngster from Tamil Nadu, has gained enormous experience in the past year.
The quality of tennis in the qualifying rounds will be extremely high with players like Linda Fruhvirtova of Czech Republic, winner of the 2022 edition of Chennai Open, and Storm Hunter of Australia, doubles finalist of the last edition, being in the fray.
Other players in contention are Elsa Jacquemot of France, who was ranked 53 in the world a few months ago, and Erika Andreeva of Russia, who was ranked 65 earlier.
The qualifying rounds will be played on Saturday and Sunday.
The main draw matches begin on Monday.
(PTI News)
