Nov 27: World Number 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain will spearhead the strong field in 13th edition of the ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament starting from December 31 to January 6 at the SDAT Stadium here.
The star studded event has a prize money of the $436,000 and promises high-voltage action with the presence of four top 20 players. Indian tennis star Leander Paes alongwith few other Indian players also do have a chance of getting a singles berth in the 32-player main draw event from the three wild cards accessible in the tournament.
Announcing the launch of this mega-event, Balu Nair, Managing Director, IMG India, the organisers of the ATP event said, “With the presence of top 20 players like Nadal, Marcos Baghdatis, Carlos Moya and Mikhail Youzhny, to be joined by defending champion Xavier Malisse, this will be the arguably the strongest ever line-up in the history of event thus far.”
Defending champion Belgium's Xavier Malisse who achieved a rare double in 2007, by winning both singles and doubles titles is currently ranked Number 109, is on the comeback trail after an injury-plagued season.
“In total, there will be 118 participants in the tourney. This demonstrates the strength of Chennai Open and its position as the premier tennis event in this part of the world,” he added.
"We are in discussions with All India Tennis Association on the names of the wildcards, which will be announced soon," Nair said.
Apart from three wild cards, four players would make it into the main draw after a two-day qualifying event for the singles category.
The list of confirmed players who will be participating in this forthcoming event:
Rafael Nadal (Spain-ranking 2), Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus-16), Carlos Moya (Spain-17), Mikhail Youzhny (Russia-19), Xavier Malisse (Belgium-109), Nicholas Mahut (France-45), Jurgen Melzer (Austria-60), Werner Eschauer (Germany-65), Marc Gicquel (France-70), Marin Cllic (Croatia-71), Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain-90), Florent Serra (France-91), Thierry Ascione (France-93), Fabio Fognini (Italy-94), Edouard Roger- Vasselin (France-96), Kristof Vliegen (Belgium-97), Jiri Vanek (Czech-99), Paul Capdeville (Chile-100), Oliver Patience (France-105), Robin Haase (Netherlands-112), Ivan Navarro (Spain-114), Gilles Muller (Luxembourg-115), Matheiu Montcourt (France-116), Denis Gremelmayr (Germany-118) and Yuri Schukin (Russia-119).
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