Yuki Bhambri’s glowing form and Somdev Devvarman’s ardent desire for a comeback will heighten the Indian interest in the main draw of the State Bank of India $50,000 ATP Challenger event, which gets underway here on Monday.
Bhambri is the biggest news at the moment, having won the crown at the ATP Tour event in Chennai recently.
Bhambri, who is likely to break into the top-150 having won his third Challenger title, would be eager to collect more ranking points.Despite not being seeded, unlike in Chennai where he was seeded seventh, Bhambri looks forward to extending his good form.
“I will try to be more consistent,” he said on arrival here on Sunday.
“I have been working hard on my fitness and that is paying off,” he added.
He will start his campaign on Tuesday against a qualifier, which will be decided in the final round of the qualifying stage on Monday.
Bhambri may well have another meeting with Indian Davis Cup team senior Devvarman in the semifinal as they are drawn in the bottom half of the main draw.
Devvarman is seeded second behind Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan (ranked 93).
The other Indians, who received wild cards, are the remaining Davis Cup team members Saketh Myneni, Sanam Singh and the current grass-court National champion Vishnu Vardhan.
The seedings:
1. Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kaz, ranking 95), 2. Somdev Devvarman (Ind, 103), 3. Evgeny Donskoy (Rus, 130).
4. Go Soeda (Jpn, 138), 5. Blaz Rola (Slo, 152), 6. Illya Marchenko (Ukr, 162), 7. Radu Albot (Mda, 168), 8. David Guez (Fra, 170).
