Strong field for Tata Open 2003

For the second year running, the ATP Tata Open, to be held in Chennai, from December 30 to January 5, will have a strong field.

Apart from defending champion Guillermo Canas of Argentina and runner-up Paradorn Srichaphan, the main draw will feature the likes of Mark Philippoussis (Australia) and Karol Kucera (Slovakia).

The direct entry cut-off this year is world rank 113 as against the 117 last year.

While Indian ace Leander Paes and Prakash Amritraj have already been given a wild card in the singles, Mahesh Bhupathi will be looking forward to retaining his doubles title.

Canas, ranked No. 15, Busan Asian Games gold medallist Srichaphan, who leaped to No 16 from 112 in the rankings this year, and the Netherlands' 20th-ranked Sjeng Schalken are the main attractions in the seventh edition of the tournament.

"With the lowest cut-off in tournament history, it is an extremely strong field, which will make for exciting action," said new tournament director Fernando Soler from IMG Barcelona, while announcing the field at a press conference in Chennai on Thursday.

"The event has a lot of potential. We are thrilled to have Philippoussis in the tournament which also has good mix of junior players. But he will have to battle hard with the likes of Canas and Srichaphan," Soler, himself a former professional player and an event manager for last 15 years, said.

"It's a great field. A lot of people like Kucera and Canas have returned. This year we have a number of players who can each step up and win Tata Open 2003," said Ravi Krishnan of event organisers IMG.

Romit Chatterji, vice-president, Corporate Affairs, Tata Group, said he is delighted to have such a strong field.

With the confirmation of Canas, Srichaphan, Kucera and Andrei Pavel (Romania), the entire semi-final line-up of the last edition returns to the tournament.

Another big name in the draw is 2000 winner Jerome Golmard of France.

The qualifying tournament will be played on December 28 and 29 while the main draw gets under way on December 30. The final is slated for January 5.

The winner of the tournament will get 35 ATP Championship Race points, the runner-up 24, semi-finalists 15, quarter-finalists eight, round of 16 three and main draw one point each.

The singles main draw: (with world rankings): Guillermo Canas (15-Arg), Paradorn Srichaphan (16-THA), Sjeng Schalken (20-Ned), Juan Ignacio Chela (23-Arg), Andrei Pavel (26-Rom), Rainer Shuttler (33-Ger), Kristian Pless (74-Den), Lars Bursmuller (77-Ger), Albert Montanes (80-ESP), Mark Philippoussis (83-Aus), Karol Kucera (84-SVK), Albert Portas (87-ESP), Dick Norman (96-Bel), Sargis Sargasian (100-ARM), Zeljiko (101-Cro), Justin Gimelstob (102-USA), Michael Llodra (103-Fra), Jean-Rene Lisnard (104-Fra), Julian Knowle (107-Aut), Juan Balcells (108-ESP), Cecil Mamiit (109-USA), Jan Vacek (110-Cze), Jerome Golmard (111-Fra), Mario Ancic (113-Cro) and Jiri Vanek (201-Cze).