The Karnataka Open ATP Challenger tennis tournament, which commences at the S.M. Krishna Tennis Stadium here on Monday, offers a chance for Indian players to earn valuable ranking points.

The likes of sixth-seed Karan Singh, Sidharth Rawat, Prajwal Dev and Sasikumar Mukund will look to use this week-long home tournament — the first of back-of-back Challenger events that will be held at this venue — to make stirring runs and rise up the ATP ladder. 

Maan Kesharwani, Dev Javia and Krish Tyagi have been handed main draw wild cards. 

Formerly known as the ATP Bengaluru Challenger, this tournament carries a prize purse of $63,000.

American Keegan Smith, now at a career best ranking of 289, has been given top billing. Scotland’s Hamish Stewart (world no. 328) and Russian Petr Bar (world no. 337) are two other top contenders. 

In doubles, the Niki Poonacha and Saketh Myneni combo stands out as one of the most experienced teams in the draw.