 Chennai: Leander Paes will partner Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in the doubles draw of the Chennai Open Tennis Championship 2012. Paes had won the Chennai Open doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi as his partner last year when the Indian Express reunited after a gap of nine years.
Since Bhupathi moved out of the partnership last month to join Rohan Bopanna for the next season, Paes has been reportedly looking for a tie-up with Somdev Devvarman for the Chennai Open starting at the Nungambakkam stadium on January 2.
Though the partnerships have been broken, Chennai fans will get to see India's top three doubles players in action this year. Bhupathi, No. 7 world ranking in doubles and Rohan Bopanna (ranked No. 11) have apparently set their sights on the London Olympics in July next year.
Paes, with a No. 8 world ranking in doubles and Tipsarevic will also be as formidable as the Bhupathi-Bopanna pair in the Chennai Open.
Tipsarevic (world No. 9), the highest ranked player in the singles draw, was a semifinalist in the 2011 edition. Though he has only a world ranking of 85, Tipsarevic was a doubles finalist in the 2010 and a semifinalist in 2011 in Chennai.
This will make for a tough doubles draw in Chennai Open 2012. All the three top Indian doubles players had qualified for the ATP World Tour finals in London in November where Bhupathi and Paes entered the semi-finals before they announced that they were parting ways again.
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