Current world number six Kevin Anderson has agreed to participate at the 2019 edition of the Pune Open that will kick-start the ATP tour calendar next year.
Anderson was the runner-up at the competition earlier this year, having lost to Gilles Simon in the final. Since then, he has gone from strength, even making it to the Wimbledon final and qualifying for his first ever ATP World Tour Finals tournament.
Last year, Anderson had an opening round bye before he was aided by Thiago Monteiro’s withdrawal in the second set of his second round match. A three-setter followed against Mikhail Kukushkin in which he overcame the loss of his first set to beat the opponent while repeating the dose against Benoit Paire in the semi-finals.
On both those occasions, Anderson had lost the first set of the match in a tie-breaker.
The Pune Open tournament director Prashant Sutar confirmed to the media Anderson had agreed to return back to the tournament. He said Anderson was very satisfied with the way the tournament was held when the two of them had met during Wimbledon earlier this year.
Hyeon Chung, ranked 26th at the moment, had earlier confirmed his participation in the tournament that will be played at the Mahalunge Balewadi Stadium in Pune. Last year, other than Anderson and Simon, Marin Cilic had also taken part.
Anderson had more won the Vienna Open title recently, outlasting Kei Nishikori in the final, having earlier lost to Djokovic in the final at Wimbledon. In that route to the Wimbledon final, he had faced John Isner in the semifinal which lasted 50 games in the final set, prompting concerns over the need for a tie-breaker.
Wimbledon has now decided to bring in a tie-breaker in the final set at 12-12, if necessary.
Pune Open, a tournament that was earlier played in Chennai, has seen participation from the likes of Stan Wawrinka (who is a four-time champion), Milos Raonic and Rafael Nadal.
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