Chennai: Even as Estonia’s Jurgen Zopp has pulled out from the Aircel Chennai Open 2014 with a back injury, India’s Somdev Devvarman has entered the singles draw for the upcoming 19th edition of the tournament, scheduled to take place from 30th December 2013 to 5th January 2014 at Chennai’s SDAT Tennis Stadium. The World No. 90 will be spearheading India’s representation at the US $450,000 tournament.

Cutting off at 89, the strong player field for the region’s most exciting and hard fought tennis tournament will see an inspiring array of players and include thrilling talent such as World No. 8 Stanislas Wawrinka, World No. 15 Mikhail Youzhny, World No. 16 Fabio Fognini, and Defending Singles Champion Janko Tipsarevic. The 2014 edition marks only the second time in the history of the tournament where three returning singles champions form part of the playing field.

This year, 28-year-old Devvarman dramatically broke into the top 100 list had an impressive run at tournaments. In the space of 10 months, he climbed more than 550 spots to a No. 90 Emirates ATP Ranking. He recorded main draw wins at his first six tour-level events of 2013, highlighted by a third-round run at the Sony Open Tennis, and followed with success on the ATP Challenger Tour circuit, reaching the semi-finals at four events. He also advanced to the second round of Roland Garros and the US Open and the third round of the Citi Open - all as a qualifier - to re-enter the Top 100 by September.

Noteworthy that Somdev also was nominated for Comeback Player of the Year for the ATP.

Other leading players who will add excitement to the event include France’s Benoit Paire, Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, Spaniards Marcel Granollers & Roberto Bautista-Agut, and Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vesselin.

The Title Sponsor for the tournament is Aircel and the event is supported by a consortium of sponsors in the Platinum category headed by the Government of Tamil Nadu.