Wawrinka heads Chennai Open field

World No.4 and defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland will headline a strong field in the Aircel-ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament to be held here from Jan 5 to 11 next year.

Wawrinka, who won the Australian Open within a few after capturing the Chennai Open title last year, has for company World No.14 Feliciano Lopez, Roberto Bautista Agut (15), and former champion Janko Tipsarevic who will be returning to competitive tennis after heel surgery and was granted a wild card.

Other leading players in the fray include Belgium's David Goffin, Spaniards Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Marcel Granollers, Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, Chinese Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu and 2014 finalist Edouard Roger-Vasselin with the cut-off being applied at No.95.

Besides Tipsarevic, wild cards have been granted to Davis Cupper Somdev Devvarman and the promising Ramkumar Ramanathan, it was announced here Thursday at a press conference.

Frenchman Bautista Agut was voted by fellow players as the Most Improved Player of the Year, while Goffin was honoured as Comeback Player of the Year.

Also in the fray is Croatia's 17-year-old Borna Coric, who won the ATP Star of Tomorrow Award for being the youngest player ranked in the Top 100.

Much of the focus will be on 29-year-old Wawrinka who is visiting Chennai for the seventh consecutive year and will be bidding to win his third title here.The Swiss ace ended the season on a high as he along with Roger Federer helped his country win the Davis Cup for the first time.

Devvarman, currently ranked 139, won the first edition of the 2014 ONGC-GAIL Delhi Open in February this year. Last year, the 29-year-old dramatically broke into the top 100 list and had an impressive run. The ATP also nominated Devvarman for its Comeback Player of the Year award in 2013.

Young Ramanathan attained a career high ranking of 211 this month and has won five singles and four doubles titles with different partners in the Futures tournaments.

The organisers of the Chennai Open also announced that the tickets will be on sale online Nov 28 from 8 am.

Tom Annear, tournament director of Chennai Open, said: "In its 20th edition, the Aircel Chennai Open is proud to present a top line-up of stars in a very strong player field that underlines the tournament's position as a marquee ATP tennis event in South Asia.

"I'm sure some great matches and edge of the seat action will make this a grand anniversary celebration indeed."

Renuka Jaypal, Aircel national brand head, Aircel said: "We are pleased to launch Chennai Open 2015 with a highly competitive lineup of players who will really ensure the 20th edition pays tribute to the tournament's fantastic achievements during the last two decades."