Rutuja keen to make the most of home conditions at WTA Chennai Open

WTA Tour event, starting on Saturday. Rutuja, India’s third highest ranked players in the women’s circuit, will be up against Chinese Taipei’s En-Shuo Liang in the first round of qualifying for the $250,000 hard court event. “Tomorrow’s match is just going to be about playing in the present.

Liang is a hard hitter, goes for big shots. Have to stay calm and fight,” said Rutuja. It is the first WTA Tour event to be held in India since Bengaluru hosted one in 2008.

“It is a good opportunity, playing in India, playing against solid players,” said Rutuja, who believed the conditions could play a crucial role in the outcome of the matches. “It is really hot and humid. I practiced at 12 pm today and it was tough but hopefully tougher for the foreigners,” she joked.

“I got a few days of practice at home which was good,” said the 27-year-old Pune girl, who recently won a doubles title on the ITF pro circuit in Britain. Riya Bhatia, Sowjanya Bavisetti, Sai Chamarthi and Lakshmi Prabha Arunkumar are the other Indians in qualifying draw of the WTA 250 event. India No.

4 Riya Bhatia will battle against Lithuanian sixth seed Justina Mikulskyte, Sowjanya will take on Kyoka Okamura of Japan; Sai Chamarthi takes on second seed Nao Hibino of Japan and 16-year-old Lakshmi Prabha will face top seed Yuki Naito, also of Japan. Six players advance to the main draw, which starts on Monday. Meanwhile, France's Caroline Garcia and Belgium's Elise Mertens have withdrawn from the tournament.