Chennai Open: Bhupathi, Saketh, Jeevan & Balaji given wild card

Chennai Indias top tennis players Mahesh Bhupathi Saketh Myneni Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Sriram Balaji have been granted wild card entries into the doubles draw of Chennai Open organisers said todayOther than offering fans an opportunity to watch top Indian players the 20th edition of the event will present an exceptional assembly of talent that includes four top25 players and three 2014 ATP World Tour Award winnersThe organizers announced earlier that ace Indian players Somdev Devvarman and Ramkumar Ramanathan have been granted singles wild card entriesIndias top doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi will partner 27yearold Saketh Myneni for the first time at the Aircel Chennai Open It will mark Bhupathis return to courts after March 2014 when he played in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami with Kevin AndersonBhupathi who has won a staggering 52 career doubles titles will look at the event as a platform to kickstart the new year on a winning note He had partner Leander Paes to win the 2011 Chennai Open titleSaketh attained a career high doubles ranking of World No154 last month He made his Indian Davis Cup debut at the 2014 Davis Cup AsiaOceania Group I Tie with Chinese Taipei where he partnered Rohan Bopanna in the doublesMyneni won gold and silver medals at Incheon Asian Games 2014 in mixed doubles and mens doubles where he partnered with Sania Mirza and Sanam Singh respectivelyBalaji and Nedunchezhiyan from Tamil Nadu receive support from TNTA and are coming together for the third time to play doubles at the Chennai OpenBalaji who achieved a career high doubles ranking of Word No211 this year made his ATP main draw debut at the 2012 Chennai Open in the doubles event partnering NedunchezhiyanThe wildcard pairing put up a good fight but lost to the second seeds Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram Nedunchezhiyan also achieved a career high singles amp doubles ranking of 293 amp 242 respectively this year and continues to participate in tournaments around the worldKarti P Chidambaram chairman tournament organising committee Chennai Open and Vice President Tamil Nadu Tennis Association said We are glad to grant wild cards to the prolific Mahesh Bhupathi and also to young players Saketh Balaji and Nedunchezhiyan who have been playing impressively this year in India and abroadThe players will empower the Indian contingent in the doubles draw of the tournaments 20th edition and Im sure fans will be thrilled to hear the news We are happy to have an impressive gathering of good Indian talent and are hopeful they will do very wellChennai Open will witness some of worlds most exciting names in tennis converging in India including World No 4 and Defending singles Champion Stan Wawrinka World No 14 Feliciano Lopez and World No 15 Roberto Bautista Agut and World No 22 David GoffinOther leading players who will add excitement to the event include Spaniards Guillermo GarciaLopez and Marcel Granollers Luxembourgs Gilles Muller Chinese Taipeis YenHsun Lu and 2014 finalist Edouard RogerVasselin