Ramkumar, Somdev-Jeevan get Chennai Open wild cards

The Hindu

Ramkumar Ramanathan. Photo: M. Periasamy

Local youngster Ramkumar Ramanathan was on Tuesday given wild cards for both the singles and doubles main draw of the ATP Chennai Open, starting January 4 here.

The organisers also handed doubles main draw wild card to Somdev Devvarman and Chennai’s Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan.

Ramkumar, who has been supported by TNTA for many years, will have N. Sriram Balaji as his doubles partner. He eked out a few memorable wins in the season 2015, touched a career-high of rank 208 in the singles before ending the year on 248.

Sanam Singh and Vijay Sundar Prashanth, who had shocked Somdev at the Pune Challenger, have been given wild cards for the qualifying singles event.

The other wildcards in the singles main draw were given to the Russia’s Karen Kachanov (No. 152) and Andrey Rublev (No. 172).

Rublev, aged 18, turned pro only in 2014 and reached a career-high ranking of 172 in the world earlier this month.