Wild card for Somdev; Berdych top seed in Chennai Open
India's No.1 singles player Somdev Devvarman was on Thursday, accorded a wild card entry while World No.6 Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic has been given the top billing in the 18th ATP Aircel Chennai Open commencing here next month.
- Press Trust of India
- Updated: November 22, 2012 06:40 PM IST
India's No.1 singles player Somdev Devvarman was on Thursday, accorded a wild card entry while World No.6 Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic has been given the top billing in the 18th ATP Aircel Chennai Open commencing here next month.
Devvarman, who had pulled out of the previous edition because of a recurring shoulder injury, has been given the first of the two wild cards for the event to be held at the SDAT Tennis Stadium from December 31 to January 6.
A total of 22 players have been accorded a direct entry for the tournament. The USD 4,50,000 championship is India's only and South Asia's premier ATP World Tour Open 250 event. (Read: Berdych, Tipsarevic to play Chennai Open)
"The tournament has been growing in popularity every year and this year's confirmation from four of the top 20 players is testimony to the stature of Chennai Open," said M A Alagappan, President of Tamil Nadu Tennis Association.
"However, defending champion Milos Raonic has preferred to play in the other tournaments happening on the same dates," added Alagappan, who is also the chairman of the organising committee of the tournament.
Alagappan also announced that India's warring duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, who were locked in an ugly selection row in the build-up to the London Olympics, will be playing with different partners and Rohan Bopanna, who is getting married this weeked, has confirmed his participation alongside Rajeev.
The Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) is trying hard to keep the Chennai Open in the city as the agreement with IMG, the owners of the tournament, ends this year. TNTA has been associated with the tournament for 17 years now.
"We are committed to raise the necessary funds for it to continue as the annual feature in the city for another five years," said Alagappan.
Following are the Direct entrants: Tomas Berdych (Czech-6), Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia-9), Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland-17), Marin Cilic (Crotia-15), Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland-17), Benoit Paire (France-47), Robin Hasse (The Netherlands-56), Go Soed (Japan-58), Yen-Hsun Lu (Taiwan-60), Igor Sijsling (Netherlands-69), Andry Kuznetsov (Rissia-79), Roberto Baustista-Agut (Spain-80), Guillaume Rufin (France-90), Blaz Kavoic (Slovenia-98), Joao Sousa (Spain-99), Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France-100), Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine-101), Matthias Bachinger (Germany-104), Jan Hajek (Czech-105) and Dudi Sela (Israel-109).