World No. 12 Kevin Anderson to play in Chennai Open

Chennai: Big serving world number 12 Kevin Anderson will make his debut at Chennai Open tennis tournament to be held at the SDAT Stadium here from January 4-10.

The top-ranked South African player will start the new season in Chennai on the back of a career high top-10 ranking in 2015 and a maiden entry in the quarterfinals of the US Open after defeating current world number two Andy Murray.

Confirming his participation, Anderson said, "I am very pleased to start the 2016 season by playing at Aircel Chennai Open and look forward to coming back to India.

"I have heard about the great competitive nature of this tournament and support of tennis loving fans from players on the tour. It's a great country and it will be special if I can make a strong start to the season here," Anderson said in a release.

This year has been a good season for Anderson, winning his third ATP title at Winston-Salem hard court tournament in August, an ATP World Tour 250 event, defeating Pierre-Hugues Herbert in straight sets 6-4, 7-5.

Earlier in the year, he took on world number one Novak Djokovic in a grueling five-setter at Wimbledon, winning the first two sets in what stunned the tennis world. The year then saw Anderson have a fine run at the US Open where he shocked world number two Andy Murray in a four-setter before losing to Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals.

Towering at a staggering 6 feet 8 inches, Anderson will be looking to avenge his defeat with a possible clash with defending champion Wawrinka, who will look for a hat-trick of wins at Chennai this year.