Chennai Open: Leander Paes vs Stan Wawrinka in Round 1

CHENNAI: It's the first week of the year and Chennai Open can't be far away. With the marquee ATP event all dolled up for a Monday start, the draw lent the weekend a fair measure of excitement. While the top four seeds, Stan Wawrinka, Kevin Anderson, Benoit Paire and Roberto Bautista Agut, have been handed first-round byes, the opening-round match-ups aren't entirely devoid of promise.While Britain's No. 2 player Aljaz Bedene will face world No. 39 Vasek Pospisil, Borna Coric, the youngest player in the top-50, will be up against the experience of Spain's Marcel Granollers in the first round.
Wild card entrant and the lone Indian in the main draw so far, Ramkumar Ramanathan, will have to punch way above his weight if he has to get past the opener. Even if the world No. 248 home boy does get the better of Daniel Gimeno-Traver, who's ranked inside the top 100, he would need no less than a Houdini act to make it beyond the second round, with an Anderson clash awaiting him.
In the doubles section, seasoned warhorse Leander Paes along with his 100th partner Granollers, will face the Swiss-Spanish combine of Stan Wawrinka and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez while the Mahesh Bhupathi and Gilles Muller duo will take on Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram in their respective opening matches.
All of 19 years, Coric, who has an impressive resume with wins against Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, admits Granollers is far from an easy opponent. "I won against him last year, but I didn't feel comfortable playing him. For now, I just want to focus on my first match and not look too far ahead. It's going to be hot here and I'm hoping I'll get a late-night match," Coric said, after the draw on Saturday.