Chennai: For the second year running, Tata Open 2003 will have a strongest field ever for the annual mega tennis event to be held in the city from December 30 to January 5.

Besides, defending champion Argentina's Guilermo Canas and runner-up Paradorn Srichaphan, the main draw would also feature the likes of Mark Philippoussis (Australia), Karol Kucera (Slovakia), the direct entry cut-off being world rank 113 as against the 117 last year. Philippoussis makes his maiden entry in the ATP event here.

While the Indian ace Leander Paes and Prakash Amritaraj have already been given a wild card in the singles, Mahesh Bhupathi will be eyeing to retain his doubles title.

Canas, world rank 15, and Busan Gold Medalist Srichaphan, who leaped to No 16 from 112 in the rankings, and Netherland's Sjeng Schalken, who reached world rank 20 this year, are the three among the top rankers in the field for the seventh edition of the country's biggest tennis event.

"With the lowest cut-off in tournament history, it is an extremely strong field, which will make for exciting action," said new tournament director Fernando Soler from IMG Barcelona while announcing the field at a press conference on Wednesday.

"The event has a lot of potential. We are thrilled to have Philippoussis in the tournament, which also has good mix of junior players. But he will have to battle hard with the likes of Canas and Srichaphan," Soler, himself a former professional player and a event manager for last 15 years, said.

"It's a great field. A lot of people like Kucera and Canas have returned. This year we have a number of players who can each step up and win Tata Open 2003," said Ravi Krishnan of event organisers IMG.

PTI