World No. 6 Marin Cilic of Croatia leads the player field of the Aircel Chennai Open. The star ensemble includes Borna Coric, also from Croatia, Martin Klizan of Slovakia, and Spaniards Roberto Bautista Agut and Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Formerly in the world’s top-10, Tommy Robredo of Spain, and Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, also return to India — the former after 12 years, and the latter after two years.
“This is an impressive line-up. Fans in India can expect high quality tennis this year,” said Tom Annear, the tournament director.
India’s campaign will be led by the wild card entrant Ramkumar Ramanathan. He rose to prominence when he beat Somdev Devvarman in the first round of the tournament in 2014. He’s currently No. 2 in the AITA rankings.
“We have great faith in Ram. We believe he will go a long way in world tennis. Moreover, the Indian fans love him, and will give him all the support he needs,” said TNTA president M.A. Alagappan.
“It is great to see so many star players confirming their presence for this year’s event. We are quite sure that it will be a thrilling experience for the fans to see so many of their favourite stars live in action,” he added.
Player field (Name, Country, World ranking): Marin Cilic (Croatia) 6; Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain) 14; Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Spain) 27; Martin Klizan (Slovakia) 35; Benoit Paire (France) 47; Borna Coric (Croatia) 48; Tommy Robredo (Spain) 57; Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 57; Yen-Hsun Lu (Taiwan) 64; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 70; Damir Dzumhur (Bosnia & Herzegovina) 78; Konstantin Kravchuk (Russia) 81; Gastao Elias (Portugal) 82; Thiago Monteiro (Brazil) 83; Renzo Olivo (Argentina) 84; Steve Darcis (Belgium) 87; Sela Dudi (Israel) 90; Dusan Lajovic (Serbia) 95; Radu Albot (Moldova) 97; Rogerio Dutra Silva (Brazil) 99; Daniil Medvedev (Russia) 100; Wild card: Ramkumar Ramanathan.
