Indians in fray

There is a sombre appearance to it considering that no Indian will figure in the singles events, although four men and one woman will feature in the doubles categories. Although, three entered the qualifying rounds of the men draw, none could make it to the main draw, including top ranked Indian Yuki Bhambri, Somdev Devvarman and Saketh Myneni.

There is hope in the form of doubles specialists. Rohan Bopanna is strongly placed going by current form. He and Florin Mergea have been seeded ninth.They open their campaign against Tim Smyczek and Jiri Vesely.

Old warhorse, Leander Paes and Daniel Nestor, who are seeded eleventh run into Dusan Lajovic and Viktor Troicki The erstwhile Indian Express partner Mahesh Bhupathi and former World No 8 Janko Tipsarevic have a tough on hand going by their form. They meet Robert Lindstedt and Jurgen Melzer in the first round.

Purav Raja, in a way has already achieved something significant, after coming through the qualifiers along with Fabrice Martin. All eyes will be on the Sania Mirza, who as World No 1 and the top seed with Martina Hingis in women doubles are the best bets, despite the recent setbacks in the Eastbourne semifinals. They cross swords with the relatively unheralded Zarina Diyas and Zheng Saisai.