Wild card entrant Ramkumar Ramanathan will begin his quest to justifythe organisers’ faith when he takes on Spanish journeyman Dani-elGimeno-Traver in the first round of the ATP Chennai Open, starting
Wild card entrant Ramkumar Ramanathan will begin his quest to justifythe organisers’ faith when he takes on Spanish journeyman Dani-elGimeno-Traver in the first round of the ATP Chennai Open, starting here on Monday. Ramkumar finds himself in the toughest half of the draw as the local boy could run into the second-seeded Kevin Anderson if he crosses the first hurdle.
While the bottom half is packed with potential giant-killers such as Croatian teen Borna Coric, last year’s runner-up Aljaz Bedene and Russian Evgeny Donskoy, the other side could also prove tricky with all the four qualifiers being slotted there.
The 28-player main draw offers first-round bye for the top four seeds — Stan Wawrinka (Sui), Anderson (RSA), Benoit Paire (Fra) and Roberto Bautista-Agut (Spa).
Canadian Vasek Pospisil’s clash with Slovenian-born Brit Bedene, who made waves here last year by becoming the first qualifier to make it to the final in the history of the tournament, and Coric’s opener against Spaniard Marcel Granollers are some of the interesting match-ups.
Though Coric, the youngest in the current top-50, has beaten Granollers in their previous meeting at the Croatian Open, the 19-year-old expects a tough opener. “I wish the organisers slot my matches late night. It’s very hot here and playing early matches is difficult,” said Coric.In doubles, Leander Paes and Granollers have been seeded no. 2. The Indo-Spanish pair will take on Switzerland’s Wawrinka and Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in first round. America’s Rajeev Ram and South Africa’s Raven Klassen are the no.1 seeds. The top pair will meet Mahesh Bhupathi and Luxemburg’s Gilles Muller in the opening round.
Somdev Devvarman-Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and N. Sriram Balaji-Ramkumar Ramanathan are the other Indians in the fray. Balaji moved a step closer to a spot in the main draw as he pulled off a stunning 6-2, 6-4 win over Chile’s Hans Podlipnik-Castillo in the first qualifying round. Somdev made short work of compatriot Vijay Sundar Prasanth 6-2, 6-3 and Saketh also had it easyover Sanam Singh 6-2, 6-4.
