National Championship runner-up and local player Arjun Kadhe was on Thursday awarded a wild card entry into the singles main draw of the Tata Open Maharashtra, the only ATP World Tour event India hosts.
The 24-year old joins the country's top singles players Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ramkumar Ramanathan in the main draw.
Kadhe had knocked out Ramkumar in the first round of the KPIT-MSLTA Challenger for his best win of his career, in terms of beating a higher-ranked player.
"Kadhe has shown a lot of promise and Pune being his home should certainly be an additional motivation to do well here. We wish all our wild-card entrants the best of luck," said Prashant Sutar, Tournament Director.
The ATP 250 event begins from December 31 at the Balewadi Sports Complex.
World No. 6 Kevin Anderson, world number seven Marin Cilic and defending champion Gilles Simon (30) headline the singles field.
World No. 25 Hyeon Chung from Korea and World No. 45 Malek Jaziri from Tunisia will also play the season-opening event.