All eyes on Croatian Coric as Wawrinka gears up

When the main draw begins on Monday, will Chennai root for the best player and top seed Stan Wawrinka, who will be looking for his fourth title at the Open and a unique singles record of a hat-trick of titles? Will it be the South African Kevin Anderson, the current No 12 in ATP rankings? Will it be World No 19 Benoit Paire (France) or Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain)?

The 19-year-old Croatian Borna Coric, is waiting to leave an impression on the Open and local boy and wildcard Ramkumar 

Ramanathan will be looking to do what wildcard Somdev Devvarman achieved in 2009 reaching the final. As the draw ceremony for the Chennai Open was held on Saturday at the Nungambakkam Stadium, there was a clear favourite to win the title. However, the Chennai Open has also had its share of apathy towards defending champions as Marin Cilic lost in the first round in 2011, Thomas Enqvist had a similar experience in 1997 and so did Byron Black in 2000. 

But Wawrinka will not have the same fate as he gets a bye into the second round. Borna Coric is the young gun everyone is waiting to see. The 19-year-old with an ATP ranking of 44, drew Marcel Granollers of Spain in the first round and immediately acknowledged he had a tough draw. 

“It will be a tough first round for me,” he said. “It (Chennai Open) is a very good tournament. All the top four seeds are very strong.” Coric is the eighth seed here. “I am ranked 44 now; my target is to finish the year in the top 30. I know it is going to be hard.” There was also Ramkumar Ramanathan at the draw and he too was positive about his chances. 

The local boy drew Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain in the first round. “Every match is tough. I hope to play well with the crowd behind me,” said Ramkumar. Anyway, the message is clear: the Chennai Open is getting stronger and better with every passing year.