Field wide open, pressure will be on Nadal: Vijay

Chennai, Dec 28 (UNI) Former tennis ace Davis Cup captain, the man responsible for bringing the ATP event to Delhi first and then to the city of his birth Chennai, today picked Thailand's Paradorn Srichapan and two time champion Spain's Carlos Moya as the favourites to win the singles title in the Chennai Open 2007 kicking off the ATP World Tour, here on January 1.

''Both have been playing here for some time. They are familiar with the surface,'' the mercurial Vijay, who was at the the venue, Nungambakkam stadium observed in a brief chat with newspersons.

Vijay said the two big stars who would be spearheading the best field so far for the Chennai Open in its 12th year, top seed and world no 2, Spain's Rafael Nadal of Spain and the Dutch,world no 8 David Nalbandian will be under pressure beginning their new season on the unfamiliar surface here. ''Both are playing here for the first time and the pressure would be on them,'' he observed.

However, Vijay said the draw would be wide open and also averred that Frenchman Julien Benneteau who had compiled his best season in 2006 achieving his best ATP ranking so far of 40, could be a surprise winner as well.

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