The first ‘action’ at the newly-laid court at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Tuesday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: The countdown for the WTA Sunfeast Open has already began and the stage is also set at the Netaji Indoor Stadium which will host the Sunfeast Open from September 19.

The two new tennis courts laid at the stadium for the special purpose were unveiled on Tuesday. Former Davis Cup captain and Tournament Director Jaidip Mukerjea and present Fed Cup coach Enrico Piperno tried their hands on the new court and inaugurated it.

After having a feel of the court Mukerjea said: “ The court is on the slower side as it is new. But in due course of time as matches will be played on it, it will be neither be too fast nor too slow. The even bounce will suit players of all surfaces.”

A Barcelona based company called Greenset owned by Javier Sanchez has laid the courts. The courts are made of multiple chip-boards and painted with a mix of black acryclic raisin and silicon for binding the boards together. Each board measures 2.04m by 0.91m and around 900 boards were used to set up all the five courts including the three practice courts at the adjacent Khudiram Anushilan Kendra.

Then the boards were laid and then painted. Three coats of paints were applied in a span of 30 hours. The surface can be removed and can be used again. Around Rs.40 lakhs were spent to set-up only one court.

All the WTA and the ATP tournaments in Europe are played on this surface and it is also one of the surface on which Roger Federer likes to play.

THE FIELD

1. Anastasia Myskina (Rus). 2. Sania Mirza (Ind). 3. Antonella Serra Zanetti (Ita). 4. Laura Pous Tio (Esp). 5. Maria Elena Camerin (Ita). 6. Karolina Sprem (Cro). 7. Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thai). 8. Rika Fujiwara (Jap). 9. Sybille Bammer (Aus). 10. Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Sui). 11. Evie Dominikovic (Aus). 12. Marie-Eve Pelletier (Can). 13. Tzipora Obziler (Isr). 14. Sofia Arvidsson (Swe). 15. Yuliana Fedak (Ukr). 16. Nicole Pratt (Aus). 17. Arantxa Parra Santonja (Esp). 18. Melinda Czink (Hun). 19. Shikha Uberoi (Ind). 20. Galina Voskoboeva (Rus). 21. Ma Emila Salerni (Arg). 22. Edina Gallovits (Rom). 23. Marlene Weingartner (Ger). 24. Elena Likhovtseva (Wild Card, Rus). 25. Virginia Ruano Pascual (Wild Card, Esp). 26. Neha Uberoi (Wild Card, Ind). 27. Qualifier (1). 28. Qualifier (2). 29. Qualifier (3). 30. Qualifier (4). 31. Kanepi Kaia (Special Exempt, Est). 32. Victoria Azarenka (Special Exempt, Blr).