“…The tournament is in its fifth year and we are keen to do something special and I am glad that we could ensure the broadcast of the tournament for the first time. And such exposure will help the tournament reach the next level of popularity,” said Sunil Yajaman, tournament director of the open and the joint secretary of the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA)

It had earlier onboarded betting website’s surrogate news site DafaNews as its title sponsor and attracted more than 20 brands as sponsor partners. Big names like ONGC, Indian Oil, Canara Bank, JSW Steel, KSMC, ACT Fibernet, Embassy REIT, Prestige and Karnataka Tourism, among others, have been roped in to strengthen the stature of the tournament.

Defending champion Chun-Hsin Tseng is the top seed in the singles main draw while James Duckworth of Australia, who was ranked as high as 46, is seeded second. Sumit Nagal is the key attraction among the Indians in singles while the two-time champion Ramkumar Ramanathan leads the country’s strong presence in the doubles event which also consists of reigning Wimbledon champion Max Purcell.