Yuki Bhambri, winner of the Chennai event, is unseeded at the ATP Challenger tournamnent beginning here tomorrow and may find third seed Russian Evgeny Donskoy as his second round opponent.
Yuki, who won his second Challenger level singles title yesterday, will start in the bottom half of the draw and may yet again find India No 1 Somdev Devvarman in the semifinals.
Ranked 174, Yuki has been in terrific form in the last three months. He reached the third round of the Australian Open men's doubles event and also steered India to a 5-0 win over Chinese Taipei in the Davis Cup.
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In the ATP Chennai event, Yuki beat Alexander Kudryavtsev 4-6 6-3 7-5 for his second Challenger title as he would look to break into 150 after winning 80 points.
But the going would be tougher in Kolkata with the likes of 95th ranked Aleksandr Nedovyesov, the tournament top seed from Kazakhstan, and Evgeny Donskoy (130) from Russia.
"The field is tougher here I would like give my best to keep the momentum going," Bhambri said today.
Having played Australian Open pre quarters and quarters in Chennai Open earlier this year has added to his confidence.
"This has enhanced my self belief. I will try to be more consistent in my game which has helped in this season."
Yuki with his Kiwi partner Michael Venus however will start as second seeds in the doubles where Ratiwatana twins -- Sanchai and Sonchat -- of Thailand have been given the top billing.
Five Indians will be in the fray in the main draw -- with wild card entries to Somdev, Saketh Myneni, Sanam Singh and Vishnu Vardhan.
Only survivor amongst the wild card entrants in the qualifying, Christopher Marquis went down against Chinese Taipei's Ti Chen 4-6, 0-6.
SEEDINGS
1 Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ), 2 Somdev Devvarman, 3 Evgeny Donskoy (RUS), 4 Go Soeda (JPN), 5 Blaz Rola (SLO), 6 Illya Marchenko (UKR), 7 Radu Albot (MDA), 8 David Guez (FRA).
