Sidharth Rawat, Mahak Jain top seeds in AITA Ranking tourney

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Defending champion Sidharth Rawat of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh's Mahak Jain are the top seeds in the men's and women's singles event of the AITA Ranking JVPG Anirudh Desai All-India Open Tennis Tournament 2018, which begins tomorrow here.

The tournament, with a Rs 22 lakh prize money, is being organised by the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana. Rawat (24), currently ranked seventh in the country, will have to contend with second seed Maharashtra's Arjun Kadhe, who is ranked 10th. Suraj R. Prabodh of Karnataka and current National champion Dalwinder Singh of Punjab are the third and fourth seeds respectively. Mahak (16), who is also India ranked seventh, is followed by Delhi's Sai Samhitha as the second seed, while another Delhi girl, Rishika Sunkara, is seeded third and Tamil Nadu's Nithyaraj Baburaj is the fourth seed.

The men and women champions will go home richer by Rs 2 lakh each and the runner-up will get Rs 1 lakh each. Prize money in singles will be offered from the first round itself, with the first round losers also gaining Rs 12,000 each. Prize money will also be awarded to the qualifying losers, a media release said today. Matches will also be heldd in men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles.