Caroline Garcia, Elise Mertens withdraw from WTA Chennai Open

Garcia, ranked No 17 in the world, had to pull out of the event due to scheduling challenges. The Frenchwoman, who would have been the top seed in the competition, had made it to the semifinals of the ongoing US Open and lost to Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur on Thursday evening. Mertens, who would have been the second seed in the competition, had lost in the first round of the women's singles event at the US Open last week and pulled out of her subsequent doubles first round match due to injury.

With their withdrawals, Canada’s Carol Zhao and Greece's Despina Papamichail have moved into the main draw. Among the biggest names in the draw is former Wimbledon finalist Eugene Bouchard who has been given a wild card. Tournament director Hiten Joshi was disappointed with the top two withdrawals.

“We are very disappointed that Caroline and Elise have had to withdraw from the tournament. We wish them all the best for the rest of their season and hope they come to play in Chennai very soon,” he said. 5 Indians to kick off qualifying campaign: Five Indian women will kick off their campaign to qualify for the main draw of the tournament on Saturday.

Rutuja Bhosale, Riya Bhatia, Sowjanya Bavisetti, Sai Chamarthi and Lakshmi Prabha Arunkumar are part of the qualifying draw and will attempt to join India’s top two players Ankita Raina and Karman Kaur Thandi in the main draw. Rutuja, India No. 3, faces 12th seed En-Shuo Liang, while Riya takes on sixth seed Justina Mikulskyte.

Sowjanya Bavisetti will meet 11th seed Kyoka Okamura in the first round of the 24-player qualifying draw. Two local favourites from Tamil Nadu, Sai Chamarthi and Lakshmi Prabha, also feature in the qualifiers. Chamarthi takes on second seed Nao Hibino while 16-year-old