Somdev gets Australian Open wildcard
January 6th, 2011 - 4:50 pm ICT by IANS
Melbourne, Jan 6 (IANS) India’s Somdev Devvarman has been given a wildcard in the 2011 Australian Open, starting Jan 17, and he will make his maiden appearance at the Melbourne Park. Kai-chen Chang of Chinese Taipei is the other Asian player to be handed a wildcard, in the women’s singles, Tennis Australia announced Thursday.
Somdev, 25, is currently ranked 108, just outside the Australian Open cut-off of 105. He was the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games gold medallist last year besides winning a Challenger in Turkey in September. He also reached the semifinals in Aptos in July and qualified for both the Cincinnati Masters and the French Open. It was only last year that India’s No.1 broke into top 100.
Nineteen-year-old Chang, ranked 117, reached a career-high of 82 in 2010 following a second-round appearance at Wimbledon and the US Open. In New York, she was beaten by the finalist and current world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki.
This will be Chang’s second Australian Open main draw appearance.
There are two more discretionary wildcards to be awarded in both the men’s and women’s draw.
Australian Open wildcards have been allocated as follows:
Reciprocal US: Ryan Harrison (US), Lauren Davies (US)
Reciprocal French: Benoit Paire (France), Virginie Razzano (France)
Asia: Somdev Devvarman (India), Kai-chen Chang (Chinese Taipei)
Australian Open play-off winners: Marinko Matosevic and Olivia Rogowska
Discretionary: Peter Luczak, Jelena Dokic, Matt Ebden, Alicia Molik.
- Somdev, Yuki advance in Charlottesville Challenger - Nov 03, 2010
- Somdev, Prakash in Wimbledon qualifiers second round - Jun 14, 2010
- Australian Open: Fish biggest casualty in second round - Jan 18, 2012
- Australian Open: Top seed Serena Williams to face Radwanska - Jan 15, 2010
- Wimbledon: Somdev in round two, Sania doubtful for doubles - Jun 22, 2011
- Hewitt gets wildcard for Wimbledon - Jun 13, 2012
- CWG Tennis: Sania, Somdev in finals, Paes-Bhupathi out (Lead) - Oct 08, 2010
- Wimbledon: Somdev, Sania to shoulder India's singles challenge - Jun 19, 2011
- Wimbledon: Somdev, Sania to spearhead India's singles challenge (Lead) - Jun 19, 2011
- CWG tennis: Somdev and Sania in finals, Paes-Bhupathi shocked (Roundup) - Oct 08, 2010
- No Stosur, Hewitt in Australia's CWG tennis squad - Aug 18, 2010
- CWG tennis: Paes-Sania crash out, Somdev advances (Roundup) - Oct 08, 2010
- Australian Open: Somdev goes down fighting in opening round - Jan 17, 2011
- Wimbledon: Prakash advances, Somdev falters (Lead) - Jun 16, 2010
- CWG tennis: Sania, Somdev in singles semifinals (Lead) - Oct 07, 2010
Tags: alicia molik, asian games, australian open, caroline wozniacki, chinese taipei, cincinnati masters, commonwealth games, french open, games gold, jelena dokic, kai chen, melbourne park, paire, peter luczak, ryan harrison, somdev devvarman, tennis australia, virginie razzano, wildcard, wildcards