Saketh, Shivika top seeded

 THE HINDU

  6/2/2012

THE SCHOOL OF POWER TENNIS

Saketh Myneni of Andhra Pradesh is top-seeded in the men's singles of the Indian Jute-AITA National grass court tennis, which gets underway at the South Club here on Monday. In the women's section, local talent Shivika Burman has received the top billing.

Mynen faces a strong field in the top half of the main draw, which presents a mix of youth and experience.

The men's field has the top three seeds from Andhra Pradesh with the defending champion A.S. Suresh Krishna seeded second. P.C. Vignesh, the finalist in 2009 edition, will be another strong contender for the title being given the third seeding.

The women's section will be seeing a new champion with the defending champion — Kyra Shroff of Maharashtra — opting out to play the circuit abroad. Shivika Burman, who won an ITF $10,000 women's tournament in Djibouti in December, will be looking to better her performance on grass.

Burman will be meeting wild-card Smriti Joon of Haryana in the first round.

Rushmi Chakravarthy of Tamil Nadu will be looking to regain her form.

The qualifying draw remained inconclusive with the final round matches slated to be completed on Monday. This pushes back the start of the main draw matches, the bulk of which will be played on Tuesday. — Principal Correspondent