Tough job for Indians

Two weeks later, at the Lipton Super-9 event in Florida, Moya lost the top spot to the man he displaced, Pete Sampras US, when he exited early. And presently, in this numbers game, Sampras enjoys a nine-point lead over Moya at 3525 to 3516. With the American not scheduled to play any Tour tournament this week, Moya is expected to regain the No.1 ranking, here in Chennai, by at least making it to the second round thatwould net him 18 ATP points.

This year, the 32-man main draw includes 10 top-100 players, with Moya, ranked No.2 and Karol Kucera of Slovakia 10, heading the field and seeded to meet in the final.

However, the draw has a few dangerous floaters8217; like Australian youngster, Andrew Ilie seeded 5, the Swedish brigade of 1997 champion and 8217;98 runner-up Mikael Tillstrom, who is unseeded this year and Thomas Johansson No.3 seed, and fourth seeded Byron Black of Zimbabwe, to toss just a few names.

Indians top seeds: Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes were seeded No 1 in the 16-pair draw for the doubles event after Byron Black opted out of the event, adds PTI. Two-time champions here, the Indian combination will take on Vicenzo Snatopadre of Italy and Massimo Ardinghi in the first round.

Zimbabwe8217;s Black brothers Byron and Wayne are both here but Byron, who is seeded fourth in the singles, decided not play doubles. Also in the top half of the draw is India8217;s Syed Fazaluddin who was given a wild cardin the main draw.