Black makes main draw of Tata Open

1999 Indian Open winner Byron Black of Zimbabwe, Stefano Galvani of Spain, Thomas Dupre of France and Croatia's Ivo Karlovic qualified for the main draw of the Tata Open, as the qualifying rounds ended at the Nungambakkam stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

In the final round, Black had an easy time while getting the better of Tomas Cakl of (Cze), winning 6-1, 6-2 while Karlovic (Cro) beat Juan Antonio Marin (Crc) 6-1, 7-6 (7-5).

Thomas Dupre of France accounted for Carlos Cuadrado of Spain 7-6, (7-4), 6-3; and Stefano Galvani of Italy beat Arvind Parmar of Great Britain 6- 2, 6-1.

Second round results: Juan Antonio Marin bt Amir Hadad (Isr) 7-6 (7-3); Ivo Karlovic bt B. Cowan (Gbr) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5; Thomas Dupre bt C. Saulnier (Fra) 6-1, 6-1; Carlos Cuadrado bt V. Kutsenko (Uzb) 6-3, 7-6 (3); Stefano Galvani bt Jeff Coetzee (RSA) 6-2, 6-2; Arvind Parmar bt Juan Albert Viloca (Esp) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-7); Tomas Cakl bt Peter Luxa (Cze) 4-6, 6-1, 6- 4; Byron Black bt Jonathan Elrich (Isr) 6-4, 6-4.

Menahwile, with the main draw matches starting on Monday, the Tata Open 2002 is all geared up for a fantastic week of tennis. The newly-spruced-up facility is a buzzing hive of activity, as players, officials, media and fans get ready for India's largest annual global sporting event.

The main draw ceremony was held at the Hospitality Lounge of the Tata Open on Sunday, with ATP Supervisor Gerry Armstrong presiding.

Max "The Beast" Mirnyi and Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, the fifth and sixth seeds respectively of the Tata Open, were present to witness the proceedings. Each picked out their own opponents in the draw, with Mirnyi drawing the Asian champion Paradorn Srichaphon (THA) and Hrbaty drawing the young German Axel Pretzsch in the first round.

Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj, who was also present, said, "This is by far the strongest and deepest draw in the history of the tournament, and we have to thank the organizers, IMG, and the new title sponsors, the Tata Group, for this. With the quality of players at the Tata Open 2002, it's anybody's guess as to who the winner will be."

Dominik Hrbaty will start things off on Centre Court on Monday, which will be followed by the opening ceremony.

Indian hopes will be riding high on Leander Paes, as he takes on last year's finalist Andrei Stoliarov (RUS) next during prime time.

Second-seed and top Swede Thomas Johansson will take on Ivo Heuberger (SUI) in the last match on center court.

Day 1 will also see fourth seeded Andrei Pavel (ROM) in singles action, as well as the powerful second seeded doubles pair of Byron Black (last year's doubles winner) and Fabrice Santoro, the French Davis Cup finals doubles hero.

The Tata Open 2002 - Complete Coverage