Chennai: Indian Davis Cupper Leander Paes and Prakash Amritraj, son of Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj, have been awarded wild card entries into the main draw of the Tata Open ATP Tour Tennis Championship commencing here from December 30.

Paes had enjoyed a wild card in all but two editions of the tournament. In 1998 and 1999, Paes entered the singles main draw directly by virtue of his ATP rankings.

The prestigious championship being held here for the seventh year in succession will have the depth in terms of highly ranked players in the tour, though the celebrated Indian pair of the past, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will be conspicuous by their absence, Ravi Krishnan, managing director, South Asia of the IMG, the event owners of the tour, said.

However, Prakash and Stephen Amritrajs, sons of Anand Amritraj, would be the attraction in the doubles event of the Tata Open.

The duo has been making waves in the circuit in the recent past and have made it to a ATP Tour semi-final in August last just before the US Open.

Ravi Krishnan told reporters here that Prakash has been chosen for a wild card in keeping with the IMG's policy of encouraging young Indian talents.

"This will give Prakash, a fantastic opportunity to play alongside some of the world's best players like Mark Philippoussis, Paradorn Srichaphan and Guilermo Canas, who will be defending his title. It should be a treat for the Indian fans to watch another Amritraj step into the international tennis stage on his home soil," he said.

Prakash, who turned 19 last month and currently top ranked in the USTA (in Boys under-18) and lost to Srichaphan in the first round of US Open said "this is an exciting time for me. I am looking forward to playing on the tour in my father's hometown".

PTI