ITF Juniors: Strong presence from USA and Europe to pose challenge to Indian players

The strong presence of players from the USA and Europe should pose a stiff challenge for the Indian players to make a mark in the ITF junior tennis tournament to be played at the DLTA Complex from Monday.

Only Rethin Pranav in the boys section, and Maaya Rajeshwaran in the girls section, have got a seeding, of fifth and sixth respectively, among the Indian players, which should provide a fair hint of the strong field.

Rethin had lost in the semifinals and Maaya got beaten in the quarterfinals last week in Chandigarh and may have to come up with something special to better their performance this week, in the cold environment.

Quite interestingly, Rethin opens against his doubles partner Moise Kouame of France, who had beaten him on his way to the title in Chandigarh. As luck would have it, Maaya also meets the champion of last week, Maria Golovina, in the first round. Maaya had played a three-setter against Maria in Chandigarh. Overall, it should be lively action this week, from some of the best juniors in the world.