Chennai: Wild card Ramkumar Ramanathan will spearhead India’s campaign at the 2017 Chennai Open, starting from Jan. 2. World No. 6 Marin Cilic headlines the field that includes four Spaniards and three Russians. World No. 14 Roberto Agut (Spain), Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Spain), Martin Klizan (Slovakia) and Borna Coric (Croatia) are the other notable names in the fray.
Spaniard Tommy Robredo and Russian Mikhail You-zhny make a return to the country’s only ATP tournament, the former after 12 years and the latter after two years. Robredo is likely to pair up with Leander Paes.
Rohan Bopanna, who is joining hands with his new tour partner Pablo Cuevas only after this event , is in talks with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan for a one-off pairing here. Jeevan recently cracked the top 100 in doubles. Divij Sharan and Purav Raja could be another Indian pair in the draw.
“This is an impressive line-up,” Tom Annear, Chennai Open’s tournament director, said. “Fans in India can expect high quality tennis this year,” he added.
Ramkumar rose to prominence here in 2014 when he toppled Somdev Devvarman in the opening round. In 2016, he became the only third Indian after Somdev and Paes to reach the quarterfinals of the event.
“We have great faith in Ram,” TNTA president M.A. Alagappan said. “We believe he will go a long way in world tennis.”
Player list: Marin Cilic (Croatia, 6), Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain, 14), Albert Vinolas Ramos (Spain, 27), Martin Klizan (Slovakia, 35), Benoit Paire (France, 47), Borna Coric (Croatia, 48), Tommy Robredo (Spain, 57 injury protected ranking), Mikhail Youzhny (Russia, 57), Yen-Hsun Lu (Taiwan, 64), Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain, 70).
