Mumbai, November 15: Moldavian Radu Albot, Indian Davis Cuppers, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Prajnesh Gunneswaran will be leading a strong list of International players at the India’s longest running ATP challenger the $50000 + Hospitality KPIT MSLTA ATP Challenger organized by MSLTA and PMDTA will be played at the Mhalunge-Balewadi Tennis Complex in the city from November 17- 24, 2018.
The tournament which is being played for the fifth consecutive year will see all the top Indian names apart from players from over 20 countries make up a strong that line up.
Mr. Kishor Patil President of PMDTA and Chairman of the organizing committee and MD of KPIT said in a release “I’m happy that our tournament which is being held for the fifth year-in-the-row has helped Indian players move up to the newer heights and helped to build on their careers in tennis, I'm happy that we have been able to achieve a fair success with our aim to promote Indian tennis players and Asian players through the event.”
Over the last four years our winners have moved into the top 100 club with their wins here, We hope this year too this event will help the winner to move into the coveted Top-100 bracket,“ Mr. Patil added.
kpit-mslta-atp-november-2018

Mr. Kishor Patil (left), President of PMDTA and Chairman of the organizing committee and MD of KPIT; and Mr. Sunder Iyer (right) Hon. Sec. of MSLTA, during the Mumbai Press Conference

Mr. Sunder Iyer Hon Sec of MSLTA said; “The KPIT MSLTA Challenger has become popular worldwide and bigger and better players are participating regularly making the event stronger every year. The cut-off this year is at a high of 270 which makes it a very strong Challenger at this level. Our Challengers Consistency on the ATP Challenger calender has won us accolades from ATP too, we are happy that now there are two more challengers in India one in Bengaluru and Chennai and it was the need of the hour for our Indian players. We expect at least 8-10 players from India to make it to ATP draws in the main and qualifying draw which in turn will provide them an opportunity to compete at a world class level and that too on the home turf".
Andrei Kornilov has been nominated ATP Supervisor for the event, while Nitin Kannanwar has been appointed as the ATP Referee.
The qualifying round will be played on November 17 and 18 followed by the main draws which begins on November 19. The semifinals and doubles final is scheduled for Friday, 23 November, while the Finals will be played on Saturday 24 November.
The winner of the KPIT Men’s Challenger will get $7,200 (Rs 5,25,000) and gain 80 ATP points, while the runners up will get $4,053 (Rs. 2,95,000) and 55 ATP points.
Apart from the tournament proper, the event adds up a host of tennis festive activities for all segments.
Following are the main draw list:
Albot, Radu(MDA 86), Ramanathan, Ramkumar(IND 121), Ymer, Elias(SWE 132), Polmans, Marc(AUS 137), Gunneswaran, Prajnesh(IND 142), Clarke, Jay(GBR 175), Moriya, Hiroki(JPN 187), Martin, Andrej(SVK 189), Lee, Duckhee(KOR 193), Schnur, Brayden(CAN 211), Ward, James(GBR 213), Griekspoor, Scott(NED 221).
PAST WINNERS: KPIT ATP CHALLENGER
Singles
  • 2017: Yuki Bhambri(India) b Ramkumar Ramanathan 4–6, 6–3, 6–4
  • 2016: Sadio Doumbia (France) b Prajnesh Gunneswaran (India) 4–6, 6–4, 6–3
  • 2015: Yuki Bhambri (India) b Evgeny Donskoy (Russia ) 6–2, 7–6 (7–4)
  • 2014: Yuichi Sugita (Japan) b Adrián Menéndez-Maceiras (Spain ) 6–7 (1–7), 6–4, 6–4
Doubles
  • 2017: Tomislav Brkic/ Ante Pavic b Pedro Martinez/ Adrián Menéndez Maceiras 6-1,7-6(5)
  • 2016: Purav Raja/ Divij Sharan (India) b Luca Margaroli (Swi)/ Hugo Nys (France) 3–6, 6–3, [11–9]
  • 2015: Gerard Granollers / Adrián Menéndez-Maceiras (Spain) b Maximilian Neuchrist (Austria)/ Divij Sharan (India ) 1–6, 6–3, [10–6])
  • 2014: Saketh Myneni / Sanam Singh (India ) b Sanchai / Sonchat Ratiwatana (Thailand) 6–3, 6–2.