Paes8217; withdrawal 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 boys8217; pursuit to acquire a treasured scrawl was their query at the end of this ritual 8212; what8217;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 Ketola8217;s final opponent at Calcutta 8212; Andy Ram of Israel.

Paes8217; absence means the Indian hopes rest with the four local wild card entries 8212; 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 Giorgio Galimberti Italy, 10 Mrak Nielsen New Zealand.