• Lithuanian Berankis given top billing

• Mysuru’s Prajwal Dev, Suraj Prabodh, Vasisht in fray

Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, World No. 69, has been given the top billing in the Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger Men’s Tennis Tournament which kicks off at the KSLTA Stadium in Bengaluru from today.

Defending Champion Prajnesh Gunneswaran and former champion Sumit Nagal will lead the Indian challenge. Stefano Travaglia of Italy, Ranked No. 73, is seeded second, Yuichi Sugita of Japan, Ranked 86, is seeded third, James Duckworth of Australia, Ranked No. 96, is seeded fourth and Jiri Vesely from Czech Republic, Ranked 107, is seeded No.5.

Karnataka’s youngsters S.D. Prajwal Dev, Suraj R. Prabodh (both from Mysuru) and Adil Kalyanpur (Bengaluru) and Niki Poonacha (Bengaluru) have been handed Wild Card entries.

Saketh Myneni will partner Matt Reid of Australia for the first round against Wild Cards B.R. Nikshep and Vasisht Cheruku (Mysuru) in the Men’s Doubles event. The Challenger, which features four players in the Top 100, offers a total prize money of $1,62,480 with the winner taking home a cash prize of $21,600 and 125 ATP points.

Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Neduncheziyan will open against Fredrico Ferreira Silva and Nikola Milejevic while Purav Raja and Ramkumar Ramanathan will play Wild Cards S.D. Prajwal Dev and Adil Kalyanpur in the Men’s Doubles first round.