Tournament top seed Prerna Bhambri will take on Sneha Padamata while second seed Natasha Palha will clash with qualifier Simran Kejriwal in the first round of the Kalaburagi Urban Development Authority, Gulbarga ITF $10,000 event for women here at the Chandrashekar Patil stadium on Monday.
The main draw of the KUDA Gulbarga ITF event will begin with just two seeded players taking to the courts on day one. Eighth seed Eetee Maheta will take on wild card entrant Shivani Manjanna and third seed Snehadevi Reddy will clash with qualifier Preethi Ujjini.
The last time a women’s tournament was held here at Gulbarga, Prerna clinched the tile and having won a title at Lucknow two weeks ago feels she is good and fit to retain the crown.
The player to watch will be 17-year-old Karman Kaur Thandi, who has been creating waves. Ranked No 47 in the World of Juniors, she clinched a Grade 1 title in Germany in June, reached a Grade 1 semis in Canada in August, and reached Round 16 at the US Open Juniors.
Holding a WTA ranking of 774, she made the last 16 after going through the qualifiers in a $50,000 event in Canada.
Wild cards were handed out to four future hopefuls from India, Kanika Vaidya, Diksha Manju Prasad, Shivani Manjunath and Moulika Ram.
The eight qualifiers to make the main draw were Prakruthi Banani, Preethi Ujjini, Teertha Iska, Simraj Kejriwal, Astha Dargude, Muniyan Arthi, Soha Sadiq and Dakshta Girishkumar Patel.
The KUDA Gulbarga ITF $10,000 event was inaugurated by Qamas ul Islam, Minister Muncipalities and Local Bodies, Wakf and Minority Welfare in the presence of Dr Sharan Prakash Patil, Minister for Medical Education, GoK, Radhakrishna, Vice President, KSLTA, Aditya Amlan Biswas, IAS, Regional Commissioner, Sunil Agarwal IPS, IGP, Vipul Bansal IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Gulbarga and Amit Sigh IPS, SP Gulbarga.
Results: Final round qualifiers: (All Indians)
Prakruthi Banani bt Shehnaz Singh 6-3, 6-1; Preethi Ujjini bt Sansriti Ranjan 5-7, 6-1, 6-1; Teertha Iska bt Sahsmitha Kotte 6-2, 6-2; Simran Kejriwal bt Varuny Chandrashekar 6-1, 6-4; Aastha Dargude bt Niditra Rajmohan 7-5, 6-3, (1) Muniyan Arthi bt Sindhu Janagam 6-0, 6-4; Soha Sadiq bt Mahrukh Kokni 6-1, 6-3, Dakshta Girishkumar Patel bt Pragati Solankar 6-4, 6-4.
