SEASON OPENER: Former champion Stanislas Wawrinka leads the field at the Aircel Chennai Open, which is in its 19th year. Joining the world No.8 in India is 2008 winner Mikhail Youzhny and fellow top 40 players Fabio Fognini, Benoit Paire, Vasek Pospisil and Marcel Granollers. The
tournament in Chennai is the first of eight ATP World Tour events to be held in Asia this season and the only stop in India.
DAY ONE: The action gets underway at the SDAT Tennis Stadium with four main draw matches on Monday. Centre Court offers a glimpse of some emerging talent in men’s tennis. Czech youngster Jiri Vesely, who at 20 is the youngest player inside the top 100 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, takes on Indian wild card Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, while Canadian Vasek Pospisil, 23, plays 18- year-old wild card Kyle Edmund. Elsewhere, Yen Hsun-Lu takes on Tim Smyczek and Dudi Sela faces Lukas Lacko. The final round of qualifying will also conclude on Monday.
298 NOT OUT: Top seed Wawrinka is just two victories away from 300 wins on the ATP World Tour. If the 28-year-old, who received a bye in the first round, reaches the landmark in Chennai this week, he will become just the fourth Swiss player to reach the 300 mark after Roger Federer (923), Marc Rosset (433) and Jakob Hlasek (432). Wawrinka, who is the No.1 seed for the sixth time in his career, is coming into 2014 off the back of a career-best season in which he reached the QF or better 14 times, before finishing the year inside the top 10 for the first time.
RANKING CLIMBERS: Paire, 24, and Pospisil, 23, will be looking to continue their climb up the rankings after a breakthrough 2013, which saw both players reach career highs in the Emirates ATP World Tour Rankings. Paire climbed from No.47 to 26 by the year-end, while Pospisil jumped from outside the top 100 to No.32. Both players will be bidding for their first ATP title in Chennai.
HOME HOPES: World No.90 Somdev Devvarman, who became the first native to reach the final in Chennai in 2009, is the only Indian player to qualify for the main draw courtesy of his ranking.
The Assam native finished the 2012 season No.656 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after suffering a shoulder injury, but he returned to the top 100 in 2013.
YOUZHNY RETURNS: The Russian returns to Chennai for the first time since winning the title in 2008. On that occasion, the world No.15 posted a crushing 6-0 6-1 victory over Rafael Nadal in the final.
TITLE HUNT: With defending champion Janko Tipsarevic pulling out with injury, Wawrinka and Youzhny are the only two defending champions in this year’s draw. Last year’s finalist Roberto Bautista Agut is the eighth seed this year.
DOUBLES: Defending champs Benoit Paire and Stanislas Wawrinka return to Chennai to defend their title. The pair will face top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi in the 1R. Former champions Leander Paes, Rajeev Ram and Yen-Hsun Lu also appear in this year’s field.
