India No. 3 and two-time champion Vaidehee Chaudhari and defending men’s champion Manish Sureshkumar will lead a field featuring eight players ranked in the national top 15 at the 31st Fenesta Open National Championship, to be held at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi from October 5 to 17.
Chaudhari will chase her third women’s singles crown after winning in 2022 and 2024, while Sureshkumar returns to defend his 2025 title. Shruti Ahlawat adds to the women’s challenge, having won her maiden ITF $15,000 title at the same venue in May, defeating Poland’s Zuzanna Kolonus in the final.
The men’s field includes four national top-15 players: Sureshkumar (IR 8), No. 10 Nitin Kumar Sinha (IR 10), Aditya Balsekar (IR 11) and Udit Kamboj (IR 13). The women’s field features four national top-10 players, with Ahlawat ranked seventh, Sonal Paygonda Patil (IR 9) and Akanksha Nitture (IR 10) joining Chaudhari as per the last updated ranking list of July 27, 2026.
The junior field includes Delhi’s Praneel Sharma, Karnataka’s Prakaash Sarran, Gujarat’s Om Patel and Haryana’s Harsh Malik in the boys’ competition. Tamil Nadu’s Savitha Bhubaneshwaran, Maharashtra’s Parthsarthi Mundhe and Swanika Roy, and Karnataka’s Shreeniti Chowdhury will feature in the girls’ competition.
A total of 324 matches are scheduled across the championship.
The Under-18 Boys’ and Girls’ events kick off the championship, with qualifying on October 3-4, main rounds beginning October 8 and finals on October 10. The Under-16 and Under-14 events follow, with qualifying on October 10-11 and main rounds starting October 12. Quarter-finals are scheduled for October 15, semi-finals for October 16 and finals for October 17.
The Fenesta Open has provided a national platform for grassroots tennis in India for over three decades, giving emerging players the opportunity to compete alongside established talent. Now in its 31st edition, the championship continues that legacy through its men’s, women’s, boys’ and girls’ competitions.