Chennai, Dec 31 (IANS) India’s top singles player Somdev Devvarman will meet Swiss third seed and defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round if he gets past Frenchman Eric Prodon in the opening round of the Aircel Chennai Open 2012 to be held at the SDAT-Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium starting from Monday.
Serbian world No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic, Spanish world No.10 Nicolas Almagro, world No.17 Wawrinka and Canadian world No.31 Milos Raonic, the top four seeds in the 17th edition of India’s only and South Asia’s leading ATP World Tour event, were given a bye in the first round of the 28-man draw.
‘It is still a long way before I play Stan (Wawrinka), Eric is a good player so I have to be ready and I feel if I play well, I give myself a good chance to win,’ Devvarman, finalist in 2009, told reporters at the draw ceremony.
‘I am always happy to be in Chennai, I’ve been playing well and looking forward to starting the season in Chennai,’ he added.
Top seed Tipsarevic, a semi-finalist in the previous two editions, will kick-start the new season against the winner of the first round match between Indian wild card Yuki Bhambri and Slovakian Karol Beck, while Almagro will open against the winner of the first round contest between Blaz Kavcic of Slovakia and Belgian Steve Darcis.
‘It is a great tournament and is a good preparation to start the year. Last year I was playing some of my best tennis and I hope I can start well this season and we’ll see how it goes this week,’ Wawrinka said.
The second Indian wild card Vishnu Vardhan is drawn against fifth seed Croatian world No.36 Ivan Dodig while Belgian wild card David Goffin is pitted against former champion and compatriot Xavier Malisse in the opening round.
‘It has been very nice coming back here. I’ve played here 4-5 times and it is always nice to play in front of a good crowd. It is a good tournament to start the year and has been getting stronger every year and hopefully I can match the tennis I played last year and have a good week,’ said Malisse, the 2011 runner-up.
Raonic will take on the winner of the first round clash between American Sam Querrey and Victor Hanescu while Italian sixth seed Fabio Fognini will open against Dudi Sela of Israel and Belgian eighth seed Oliver Rochus will meet a qualifier.
‘This is a great opportunity for me, after six weeks of not playing or training much. It is a tremendous opportunity for me to not only start the year but also a way to progress. It gives me the first week of the year to build on and is a good way to start the year,’ Raonic said.
