Indian Davis Cupper Harsh Mankad filled the third and final wild card slot in the main draw of the ATP Tour Tata Open Tennis Championship, starting in Chennai on Monday.
He is the third Indian to get the wild card. The other two being Prakash Amritraj, the number one Indian on the ATP rankings, and Karan Rastogi.
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Mankad, winner of the ITF Futures championship in Mumbai last week, was awarded the wild card following the withdrawal of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna due to injuries.
IMG, owners of the ATP Indian Tour, acceeded to a request of the All India Tennis Federation to include Mankad as a wild card.
No Indian player has crossed the quarter-final stage or made a mark for themselves in the event.
The 24-year-old Mankad, presently in the United States, is likely to arrive in Chennai on Sunday.
Mankad topped the NCAA collegiate circuit and won the Indoor Championship.
