Absent Paes leaves field to Ogrodov

AHMEDABAD, FEB 20: It was a wild goose chase for the autograph hunters a day before the Bharat Petroleum Challenger tennis tournament which starts at the AGETA courts on Monday. The embarrassing part of this off-duty ball boys’ pursuit to acquire a treasured scrawl was their query at the end of this ritual — what’s your name?

Coming here after a hectic week is the second-ranked Tuomas Ketola of Finland, who won the Calcutta Challenger. Another player high on morale will be Ketola’s final opponent at Calcutta — Andy Ram of Israel.

Paes’ absence means the Indian hopes rest with the four local wild card entries — Prahlad Srinath, Syed Fazaluddin, Vishaal Uppal and Mustafa Ghouse. Three were first round casualties at Calcutta while Uppal reached the pre-quarters.

Seedings: 1 Oleg Ogorodov (Uzbeskistan), 2 Tuomas Ketola (Finland), 3 Mose Navarra (Italy), 4 Igor Gaudi (Italy), 5 Vadim Kutsenka (Uzbekistan), 6 Andy Fahlke (Germany), 7 Marcello Craca (Germany), 8 Jeff Coetzee (South Africa), 9 GiorgioGalimberti (Italy), 10 Mrak Nielsen (New Zealand).