Top field for Bengaluru ATP Challenger event

The third edition of the Bengaluru Open from February 10 to 16 will see one of the best fields in the ATP Challenger Tour event with four players from the top-100 world rankings taking part in it, the organisers said on Wednesday.

Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, ranked 69th in the ATP rankings, followed by 74th ranked Stefano Travaglia of Italy, will lead the top field.

Japanese journeyman Yuichi Sugita (91) and Australian James Duckworth (94) are the other players in the top-100 who will be vying for honours in the biggest ATP Challenge Tour event in Asia which offers a total prize purse of USD 162,000.

Defending champion Prajnesh Gunneswaran, currently the highest ranked Indian at 123, will lead the home challenge in company of 2017 winner Sumit Nagal (131).

Ramkumar Ramanathan (185) and Mukund Sasikumar (267) are the other Indians in the fray.

Evgeny Donskoy (Russia, No. 106), Jiri Vesely (Czech Republic, No. 109), Thomas Fabbiano (Italy, No. 114), Peter Gojowczyk (Germany, No. 120), Zhizhen Zhang (China, No.137), Blaz Rola (Slovakia, No.145) and Ilya Ivashka (Belarus, No.149) make up the top-150 ranked players taking part in the tournament.

The main draw of 48 comprises 40 who get a direct entry. Five wild cards, two qualifiers and one special exempt category make up the final 48.