Tough opener for Devvarman

Picking out the experienced Rainer Schuettler as the Indians opening adversary,Cilic would have felt rewarded for insisting on being a participant in that particular bit of the draw. The 85-ranked German,a former Australian Open finalist and the survivor of many top-level matches,came up in Devvarmans path in the 2009 event as well,but withdrew from their semi-final due to injury. This year,the Indian wild-card entrant can expect no such luck.

Rohan Bopanna,also granted a wild card this time,faces an even tougher challenge in the form of No 21 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland. Top seed Robin Soderling has been drawn to play Robby Ginepri of the US,while Cilic will have to contend with Russias Igor Kunitsyn. Vijay Amritraj,whose son Prakash did not receive a wild card this year in a departure from tradition,was conspicuous by his absence at the ceremony.

Qualifying results first round: Prakash Amritraj bt Vishnu Vardhan 7-5 6-3; Peter Polansky CAN bt Rohan Gajjar 6-3 7-6; Marsel Ilhan TUR bt Sanam Singh 6-5 3-6 6-2; James Ward GBR bt Karan Rastogi 6-2 6-4; Yuki Bhambri bt VM Ranjeet 7-5 6-4