Indian tennis legend Leander Paes is set to play his last tournament on home soil as he was on Saturday handed a wild card entry in doubles for the third edition of Maharashtra Open, beginning in Pune from Feb. 3.
The widely anticipated wild card announcement was made during the draw ceremony. India No. 1 Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Italian star Stefano Travaglia was also present during the ceremony. Paes has already announced that this year will be his last in the professional circuit.
The 46-year-old Paes and his partner Australian Mathew Ebden will face the pair of Divij Sharan and New Zealand’s Artem Sitak in the first round.
Sharan, who clinched the Doubles title in the last edition with Rohan Bopanna, has teamed up with Sitak this time.
The third edition of South Asia’s only ATP Tour tournament is set to be the last appearance at home for the eight-time Doubles Grand Slam champion Paes.
Another ace Indian Doubles player Rohan Bopanna and local boy Arjun Kadhe will face French pair of Antonie Hoang and Benoit Paire.
In the Singles category main draw, Gunneswaran will face Yannick Maden in the first round while India No. 2 Sumit Nagal will be up against a qualifier.
This post was published on February 2, 2020 4:21 pm