National Tennis Championships: Vishnu Vardhan, Riya Bhatia in top gear to defend their titles

Vishnu Vardhan will have his task cut out to defend his national title when he takes to court at Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association complex from October 2.

Vishnu, who has been one of the heavyweights in India's domestic tennis season will be a strong contender to lift the men's title in a tough field comprising of SK Mukund, Siddharth Rawat and VM Ranjeet.

The winner will get Rs 3,00,000 prize money and runner-up Rs 2,00,000. AITA has also published on its website that there is a provision from the government of a grant for singles winners of the Nationals.

In the women's section, last year's winner Riya Bhatia heads the field. Like the men, the women's winner will also get Rs 3,00,000. Dhruti Venugopal, Pranjala Yadlapalli, Zeel Desai and Eetee Maheta also feature in the draw.

Four-time winner at the Fenesta Open, Prerna Bhambri will also be competing in the ladies draw, along with Rutuja Bhonsale. Rutuja won the title once at the Fenesta Open.

The two-week long event will host the men's, women's and under-18 events in the first week. The second week will feature the under-14 and under-16 boys and girls events. The matches will be played on hard courts.