Marin Cilic sits atop what seems the lighter of the halves after the Aircel Chennai Open draw ceremony on Saturday.
Yen-Hsun Lu, who is seeded eight, is drawn in the same quarter as the 2014 US Open champion. Last year’s finalist Borna Coric and third seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas lurk in the other quarter.
But with three of the four qualifiers finding themselves in the top half, it seems the more airy of the two.
First-round bye for Cilic
This being a field of 28, Cilic and third seed Ramos-Vinolas received byes into the second round, as did Roberto Bautista Agut and Martin Klizan, the second and fourth seeds.
The two Indian wild cards in the main draw are both in the bottom half, with Saketh Myneni set for a tough examination against Mikhail Youzhny, a champion here in 2008. Ramkumar Ramanathan, a quarterfinalist last year, faces a qualifier in the first round.
“Youzhny is a very good player,” said Myneni. “I need to get the best out of myself and compete as hard as I can. But it’s a good challenge, and a good way to start 2017.”
The quarter in which the 22-year-old Ramkumar finds himself is by far the most loaded, with fifth seed Benoit Paire, the mercurial Aljaz Bedene, the seasoned Guillermo Garcia Lopez and Klizan all crammed into it. In fact, the meeting between Bedene and Garcia Lopez might well be the pick of the first round matches.
The 16-team doubles event will see as many as four Indian pairs, with the most eye-catching of the match-ups being Purav Raja and Divij Sharan against Leander Paes and Andre Sa.
India’s highest-ranked doubles player Rohan Bopanna, partnering Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, will take on Marcelo Demoliner and Nikola Mektic.
Meanwhile, in qualifying, Yuki Bhambri and Prajnesh Gunneswaran advanced to the second round following straight set victories over Marco Cecchinato and Hiroki Moriya respectively.
Sasi Kumar Mukund though went down fighting to second seed and World No. 110 Nicolas Kicker 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5.
The results: First qualifying round: Hyeon Chung (Kor) bt Miljan Zekic (Srb) 6-1, 6-3; Jurgen Melzer (Aut) bt Steven Diez (Can) 6-1, 6-1; Nicolas Kicker (Arg) bt Sasi Kumar Mukund 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5; Yuki Bhambri bt Marco Cecchinato (Ita) 7-5, 6-1; Jozef Kovalik (Svk) bt Franko Skugor (Cro) 6-3, 6-4; Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Hiroki Moriya (Jpn) 6-2, 6-3; Marco Trungelliti (Arg) bt Alessandro Bega (Ita) 6-0, 6-4; Nikola Mektic (Cro) bt Federico Gaio (Ita) 6-3, 6-0 .
