A mainstream WTA event will be held in India for the first time since 2008
The Tamil Nadu govt has taken the ownership to bring back India on the Women Tennis Tour event calendar as they will be the title sponsor for the $250,000 event.
APG group based in Hong Kong is one of the tournament owners on the WTA tour and the TNTA will lease the event from the owner and has requested to move the event to Chennai from China.
It will be a draw of 32 for the singles with 24 direct entries, four wildcards and four qualifiers.
There will be 24 entries in qualifying and 16 entries in the doubles section.
It will be a great opportunity for the Indian players who have taken a big hit on their rankings in last year or so. Currently none of the Indian players in singles are ranked in the top 300 with Ankita placed highest at 360th rank.
Pre 2008 India had hosted WTA events for six years starting 2003 in the name of WTA Indian open.
The 2008 edition was won by 26-year-old, then eight-time Grand-Slam champion Serena Williams, who defeated Patty Schnyder in the finals, winning her 29th WTA Tour title.
Chennai hosted an ATP Tour 250 event in the first week of January from 1997 to 2017 before the tournament was shifted to Pune.
