Chennai: Former Davis Cupper and multiple Grand Slam winner Mahesh Bhupathi will partner Saketh Myneni while Sriram Balaji will pair up with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan as both combinations received wild card entries for the doubles draw in the 2015 ATP-Aircel Chennai Open tennis tournament to be held here from Jan 5 to 11.
Announcing this here Monday, Karti P. Chidambaram, chairman, Tournament Organising Committee and vice president, Tamil Nadu Tennis Association said: “We are glad to grant wild cards to the prolific Mahesh Bhupathi and also to young players Saketh Myneni, Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan who have been playing impressively this year in India and abroad.
“The players will empower the Indian contingent in the doubles draw of the tournament’s 20th edition and I’m sure fans will be thrilled to hear the news. We are happy to have an impressive gathering of good Indian talent and are hopeful they will do very well.”
Bhupathi, winner of 52 titles, makes a comeback to competitive doubles after nine months. He last played in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami with Kevin Anderson.
Myneni attained a career-high doubles ranking of 154 last month. He made his Indian Davis Cup debut at this year’s Asia-Oceania Group I tie against Chinese Taipei where he partnered Rohan Bopanna in the doubles.
Myneni won gold and silver medals at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games in mixed and men’s doubles, along with Sania Mirza and Sanam Singh, respectively.
Balaji and Nedunchezhiyan are coming together for the third time to play doubles at the Chennai Open. Balaji, who achieved a career-high doubles ranking of 211 this year, made his ATP main draw debut at the 2012 Chennai Open partnering Nedunchezhiyan.
Nedunchezhiyan, among Tamil Nadu’s top ranking players, also achieved a career-high singles and doubles rankings of 293 and 242, respectively, this year.
The tournament’s singles draw boasts of four players ranked among top 25 besides top Indian players Somdev Devvarman and Ramkumar Ramanathan who have received wild card entries. The singles field, cut off at 95, will be headed by World No. 4 and defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka, besides Feliciano Lopez (14), Roberto Bautista Agut (15) David Goffin (22). Other leading players in the singles draw include Spaniards Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Marcel Granollers, Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller, Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu and 2014 finalist Edouard Roger-Vasselin. (IANS)
