Chennai Open: Wild cards could go berserk

The 2006 edition of the Chennai Open has thrown up interesting possibilities as far as the three wild cards are concerned. The All India Ten...

The 2006 edition of the Chennai Open has thrown up interesting possibilities as far as the three wild cards are concerned. The All India Tennis Association (AITA) has requested the organisers of the Open to award one wild card to the winner of the national grasscourt meet to be held in the Capital from December 19. Now, that leaves many top contenders to fight it out for the two other places up for grabs.

The officials, too, are having a tough time identifying the wild cards. The fact that last year’s wild card entrants Leander Paes, Prakash Amritraj and Karan Rastogi, could go no further than the first round would also be playing on their minds.

Ravi Krishnan of the IMG, talking to The Indian Express here this evening, said: ‘‘We will be deciding the wild cards a few days before the tournament starts because there are too many top contenders. However, Paes has so far not approached us for a wild card. Also, we would honour the AITA’s request to award one to the grasscourt winner.”

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That strengthens Rohan Bopanna’s case. The big-serving serve-and-volleyer, who was preferred over Harsh Mankad for the Davis Cup tie against Sweden played on grass in the Capital in September, starts as the favourite in the grasscourt meet.

Meanwhile, Rastogi’s coach Sanjay Poddar is confident that his student will get one as well. “Karan is most likely to bag one given his recent form after beating Bopanna and Mankad in the ABN-AMRO challenger in New Delhi last month. Another source added that the junior Amritraj ‘‘will definitely” be given a wild card for the tournament.

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