WTA 250 Chennai Open: Wild cards for Vaishnavi Adkar, Maaya Rajeshwaran and Sahaja Yamalapalli as main draw nears

Vaishnavi Adkar, Maaya Rajeshwaran and Sahaja Yamalapalli received wild cards at the draw ceremony for the third edition of the WTA 250 Chennai Open, with the tournament’s main draw scheduled to begin at the SDAT Stadium on Monday. The three Indian players were named at the ceremony held on Saturday and will enter the main draw courtesy of those wild cards.

Appearances in Tour-level main draws are limited for Indian players, making these entries a notable opportunity. Tournament organisers held the draw ceremony on Saturday to finalise pairings ahead of Monday’s start. The three wild cards were awarded specifically to Vaishnavi, Maaya and Sahaja, who will use the chance to test themselves against higher-ranked opposition.

The 21-year-old Vaishnavi Adkar, the country’s No. 1 player ranked 334 in the WTA Rankings, has been drawn against Jodie Burrage. Burrage is a 27-year-old Brit who has entered the main draw via a Protected Ranking of 149. “Playing as India No. 1 is not really what I’m focusing on right now. It’s a big opportunity. I just want to focus on improving my game, playing against the higher-ranked players and give my best out there,” said Vaishnavi during Saturday’s draw ceremony.

Seventeen-year-old Maaya Rajeshwaran will meet Polish World No. 106 Katarzyna Kawa in the main draw. Twenty-six-year-old Sahaja Yamalapalli has been paired with Swiss World No. 128 Simona Waltert. Both Maaya and Sahaja enter the event as wild-card recipients.

The draw also set a meeting between Indonesian World No. 47 Janice Tjen, the reigning champion, and American wild card Katherine Hui, who is identified in the draw as a former Junior US Open champion. That match pairs the title-holder against an American player given a direct entry by tournament organisers.

The tournament has experienced a spate of late withdrawals, with as many as seven players pulling out due to injury, illness or changes in their schedules. “The tournament draw is very heavy in the middle. It is wide open and anyone can win it,” said Vijay Amritraj, president of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association.

Several Indian players failed to progress through qualifying, with Jensi Kanabar, Zeel Desai, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Diya Ramesh all bowing out in Qualifying. Sheetal Iyer (WTA Supervisor), Hiten Joshi (CEO, Tamil Nadu Tennis Association), Panna Udvardy (Hungarian tennis player), Amritraj, Vaishnavi and B. Venkatasubramanyam (secretary, TNTA) were present for the ceremony.

The next stage is the main draw, which begins on Monday at the SDAT Stadium, when the wild-card recipients and other entrants will contest their opening-round matches.