Chennai: Current world no. 12 and big serving, Kevin Anderson, will be making his debut at Aircel Chennai Open 2016, scheduled to be held at the SDAT Stadium in Nungambakkam from 4 - 10 January 2016.
The top-ranked South African player will start the new season in Chennai on the back of a career high top-10 ranking in 2015, and a maiden entry in the quarter-finals of the US Open after defeating current world no.2 Andy Murray.
2015 has been a great season for Anderson, winning his third ATP title at the Winston-Salem hard court tournament in August, an ATP World Tour 250 event, defeating Pierre-Hugues Herbert in straight sets 6-4, 7-5. Earlier in the year, he took on world no. 1 Novak Djokovic in a grueling 5-setter at Wimbledon, winning the first two sets in what stunned the tennis world. The year then saw Anderson have a fine run at the US Open where he shocked Murray in a four-setter before losing to Stan Wawrinka in the quarter finals. Towering at a staggering 6’8”, Anderson will be looking to avenge his defeat with a possible clash with defending champion, Wawrinka at Chennai. It is interesting to note that Anderson-Wawrinka have a 4-4 head to head between the two, indicating stiff competition for the crowd-favourite Wawrinka, who is on course for a hat-trick of wins at Chennai this year.
The much awaited Aircel Chennai Open 2016 will mark the 20th year of South Asia’s only and India’s premier ATP tournament in the tennis capital of India – Chennai. The event, one of three tournaments held in the opening week of the season, continues to give the sub-continent access to one week of scintillating tennis action, featuring some of the best names in the highly competitive world of international tennis.
Confirming his participation, Kevin Anderson said, “I am very pleased to start the 2016 season by playing at the Aircel Chennai Open and look forward to coming back to India. I have heard about the great competitive nature of this tournament and support of tennis loving fans from players on the tour. It’s a great country and it will be special if I can make a strong start to the season here.”
The Title Sponsor for the tournament is Aircel and the event is supported by a consortium of sponsors in the Platinum and Gold category, headed by the Government of Tamil Nadu.
