Ramkumar, Somdev-Jeevan get Chennai Open wildcards

Ramkumar Ramanathan and the tennis pair of Somdev Devvarman and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan on Tuesday got wildcard entries for the 20th edition of the $480,000 Chennai Open that will be held from January 4 to 10 at the Nungambakkam Stadium.

In the men's singles main draw, local boy Ramkumar, with a current world ranking of 248, will be participating here for the fifth year in a row. Earlier this year, he reached a career-high of No.208.

The other two wildcards in the singles have gone to the Russian duo of Karen Kachanov (No.152) and Andrey Rublev (No.172). Aged 19, Kachanov turned pro in 2013. He won the Under-18 European Championship in July 2013. Rublev, 18, turned pro in 2014 and reached a career high ranking of 172 earlier this month.

In the men's doubles main draw, two Indian pairs have been given wildcards -- Somdev and Jeevan, and Ramkumar and Sriram Balaji.

Wildcard entries have also been given to Sanam Singh and Vijay Sundar Prashant for the qualifying singles draw.