Bopanna-Divij given top billing at Tata Open

Asian Games gold medallist pair of Divij Sharan and Rohan Bopanna was Wednesday named as the top seed in the men's doubles event of the Tata Open Maharashtra, starting here December 31.

Sharan, who briefly became India's number one doubles pair, and veteran Bopanna recently joined forces, keeping in mind the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Tata Open will be their first tournament together.

Radu Albot and Malek Jaziri will be the second seed while Phillip Oswald and Tim Puetz are seeded third. The team of Marcelo Arevalo and Jamie Cerretani is seeded fourth.

Veteran star Leander Paes will team up with Mexico's Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela with whom he won the Santo Domingo Challengher title and ended runner-up at Brest, Monterrey and Chicago in the 2018 season.

Left-handed Jeevan Neduncheziyan has entered the main draw with American Nicholas Monroe, who is ranked 65th in the world.

"It's a matter of pride for us to have Asian Games gold medallist Bopanna and Sharan to confirm their participation and become top seeds at the same time," Tournament director Prashant Sutar said.

World no. 6 Kevin Anderson, World No. 7 and former US Open champion Marin Cilic and Frenchman and defending champion Gilles Simon are among the top names in singles to feature in the second edition of the tournament.