Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic and Spain's Nicolas Almagro, backend members of tennis' elite top 10, will lead a 28-strong main draw at the season-opening Aircel Chennai Open in 2012.
The two will compete for a $68,850 top prize with defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka, former winners — Marin Cilic and Xavier Malisse, and ATP's Newcomer of the Year 2011, Canada's Milos Raonic in the 17th edition of the tournament, which commences on January 2.
At a press conference on Thursday, M.A. Alagappan, president, Tamil Nadu Tennis Association, said: “This is the first time that the cut-off for direct entries to the main draw is within the top 100.
“The tournament has become increasingly competitive and we are thankful to the Government of Tamil Nadu, the AITA and sponsors for their continuing support.”
While the World No. 10 Almagro would be debuting in Chennai, for Cilic it will be an opportunity to gun for a third title. Ninth-ranked Tipsarevic, currently taking part in the London World Tour Finals, would look to improve on his semifinal losses in the past two editions.
Other relatively prominent players pencilled in for participation include Croatia's Ivan Dodig (ranked 36), tournament regulars Robin Haase (45) and Dudi Sela (84), and one of the shortest player on the Tour at 5'6”, Belgian Olivier Rochus.
The 20-year-old Raonic, who had lost in the final round of qualifying in 2011, finds himself a direct entrant this time following a rapid rise up the rankings.
Aside from the 21 direct entries, four slots are reserved for qualifiers and three for wild cards. The cut-off ranking for direct entries is an all-time high of 98.
“The wildcards will basically be awarded to Indian players to encourage their participation,” said C.B.N. Reddy, secretary, TNTA.
Devvarman gets direct entry
Somdev Devvarman, a finalist in 2009 and ranked 85 in the world, will be India's lone direct entry. Home presence is also assured in the doubles event with the reported pairing of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna as the former and Leander Paes have decided to part ways at the end of 2011.
The qualifiers begin on December 31. Online sale of tickets starts from November 28. Fernando Soler, reprising his role as Tournament Director, in a statement said, “The Aircel Chennai Open has been a permanent fixture in the ATP calendar for almost two decades and for this we are grateful to our sponsors.”
G.A. Rajkumar, Additional Chief Secretary, Youth Welfare and Sports, Government of Tamil Nadu, Ashu Jindal, COO, IMG-Reliance, and M. Vijaykumar, Member-Secretary, SDAT, were also present at the press conference.
