Kevin hopes to play Wawrinka in final

Currently ranked 12th in the world the 29-year-old South African Kevin Anderson said he was looking forward to playing in Chennai and hoped he would get better on both the mental and physical aspects in due course. 

“Last year was good,” said Anderson, who created a record of sorts when he reached the club of players who served 1000 aces in a year. He served 23 aces in a match in Vienna to join Ivo Karlovic and Isner to be in the 1000-club in a season. 

The South African reached career-high ranking of 10 in October 2015 after making the quarterfinals at the US Open last year. “I had a few good tournaments but I had to play a few tough matches in the crucial stage,” said Anderson looking back. In fact, no South African figured in the top 10 in the last 20 years and the last one to do was Wayne Ferreira. 

He had beaten Wawrinka in London (Queens Club) before losing to Andy Murray. “In fact, I am looking forward to playing Stan (Wawrinka) here but it is a long way away. I will be very excited if I reach the final and if I get to meet Stan in the final,” he said. 

Anderson had advanced to fourth round in Australian Open losing to Rafael Nadal and again in Wimbledon tested Novak Djokovic leading by two sets before losing in the fourth round. Anderson, who has a bye in the first round, meets the winner of the Ramkumar Ramanathan vs Daniel Gimeno Traver of Spain clash.

S Fyrstenberg (Poland) and S.Gonzalez (Mexico) put paid to the aspiration of A Bury (Belarus) and Borna Coric (Croatia) in the first round of the doubles action on Tuesday. Coric and his partner, the tall Bury could not keep pace with Fyrstenburg and Gonzalez and lost 4-6, 3-6 in a little over an hour. Coric and partner served two aces and two double faults while the winning combination of Gonzalez and Frystenberg served more aces (four) and more double faults too (3).