Rutuja the

Indian Smriti Bhasin: Pune's Rutuja Bhosale, who won the mixed doubles gold medal in the recently concluded Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, will be the favourite when she begins her quest for glory in the ITF Women’s World Tour event here on Tuesday.

Given the third seeding, the 27-year-old takes on fellow Indian Smriti Bhasin in the US$ 25,000 prize money event, the main rounds of which will be held at the Bowring Institute tennis courts here from Tuesday.

The only other Indian in the top eight seeds is Vaidehi Chaudhari, who is seeded fourth and takes on wildcard entrant Anjal Rathi in her opening encounter.