The Amritraj brothers (from left), Vijay, Anand and Ashok, watch the qualifying rounds of the Chennai Open, on Saturday. (PTI)

Chennai: Last year’s surprise finalist Somdev Dev Varman has a tough task at hand in the Aircel Chennai Open as he faces Rainer Schuettler of Germany in the opening round of the $4000,000 event that commences here on Monday. The draw was released Saturday.

The other Indian in the fray, Rohan Bopanna, has an even tougher first round encounter as he takes on third seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, who is currently world ranked 21.

Incidentally, both Dev Varman and Bopanna have been awarded wildcard entries this year.

Asked about his tough opening round match against Schuettler, whom he was expected to play in the semi-finals here last year, Dev Varman said: “Last year I was scheduled to play him, but didn’t.

“It is a good field for yet another time and I am looking forward to play him. I will try my best against Schuettler.”

The German has pulled out last year owing to injury.

“I have been trying to get myself better equipped in the circuit. I know I have to maintain the same tempo this year too,” Dev Varman, the world No. 127 added.

Meanwhile, Bopanna, ranked 395, said he was confident of clearing the tough hurdle.

“I always love to play in Chennai. I am looking forward to the match and get through the first round,” Bopanna said.

Meanwhile, top seed Robin Soderling of Sweden will take on Robby Ginepri of the United States in the first round, while former French Open champion Carlos Moya, tipped to be on his last appearance here, will face fourth seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.

American-Indian and eighth seed Rajeev Ram will take on 96th ranked Thiemo De Bakker of the Netherlands in the first round.

Interestingly, the tournament has always had different winners in its 13-year-old history where only six top seeds have won the title including Spaniard Carlos Moya, who remains the lone player to have won it twice (2004 and 2005).

A opening round win for Dev Varman would see him take on the winner of Moya and Tipsarevic of Serbia in the next.

Meanwhile on Saturday, India’s top junior player, Yuki Bhambri, entered the second round of singles qualifying event.

The 17-year-old took a little time to settle down before prevailing over Ranjeet Virali Murugesan 7-5, 6-4.

Prakash Amritraj too made it into the second qualifying round, defeating compatriot Vishnu Vardhan 7-5, 6-3.

Draw (Top eight seeds and Indians)

Robin Soderling (1, Swe) vs Robby Ginepri (US); Marin Cilic (2, Cro) vs Igor Kunitsyn (Rus); Stanislas Wawrinka (3, Sui) vs Rohan Bopanna (Ind); Janko Tipsarevic (4, Srb) vs Carlos Moya (Esp); Dudi Sela (5, Isr) vs Denis Istomin (Uzb); Simon Greul (6, Ger) vs Jan Hajek (Cze); Michael Berrer (7, Ger) vs Santiago Ventura (Esp); Rajeev Ram (8, US) vs Thiemo De Bakker (Ned); Somdev Dev Varman (Ind) vs Rainer Schuettler (Ger).