Tournament Preview
TOURNAMENT PREVIEW – NEW TOP 10 ARRIVALS, DEFENDING CHAMP WAWRINKA LEAD FIELD
The Aircel Chennai Open is led by two new Top 10 players in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia and No. 10 Nicolas Almagro of Spain. The top two seeds in this year’s tournament are coming off career-best seasons. Tipsarevic won two ATP World Tour titles and Almagro captured three titles. Tipsarevic is appearing in Chennai for the fifth time and he’s reached the semi-finals the past two years. Almagro is making his debut. The No. 3 seed is reigning champion Stanislas Wawrinka, who also reached the final two years ago. The other seeds are No. 4 Milos Raonic of Canada, last year’s ATP Newcomer of the Year, No. 5 Ivan Dodig of Croatia, No. 6 Fabio Fognini of Italy, No. 7 Xavier Malisse of Belgium, who won the title in 2007 and was runner-up last year, and No. 8 Olivier Rochus of Belgium. In doubles, the top seeds are the new Indian pairing of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna. They have a 3-6 career record together and the last tournament they teamed up for was in Chennai two years ago (QF). On Monday opening action, Indian wild cards Yuki Bhambri and Vishnu Vardhan highlight Centre Court play. Bhambri takes on Karol Beck of Slovakia and Vardhan plays No. 5 Dodig for the first time. Dodig was one of 10 first-time winners on the ATP World Tour last season. On Court 1, there are two matches, including No. 6 Fognini, who makes his Chennai debut against top Israeli Dudi Sela.
