Kevin Anderson has withdrawn from the Aircel Chennai Open in Chennai with a left knee injury. The South African, seeded second, was scheduled to play India's Ramkumar Ramanathan in the second Round after receiving a first round bye. Russian Alexander Kudryavtsev will take Anderson's place in the draw as a Lucky Loser.
Kevin Anderson's Memorable 2015
The South African, currently ranked 12 in the world, enjoyed a career year in 2015, reaching three finals, losing in Memphis to Kei Nishikori and Queen's Club, losing to Andy Murray. He won the title in Winston-Salem over the US hardcourt summer, defeating Pierre Hugues-Herbert of France.
Anderson reached the fourth Round at the Australian Open for the third straight year, the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time in his career, losing to Novak Djokovic in five sets after leading by two set to love in a match that was played over two days.
His big breakthrough came at the US Open, reaching the quarterfinals of a major for the first time, upsetting Andy Murray in the round of 16 in straight sets before falling to Stan Wawrinka. He reached the top 10 for the first time on October 12th.
The Remainder Of The Chennai Field
Despite the withdrawal of Anderson, the Aircel Chennai Open still boasts its three top remaining seeds. Wawrinka is the top seed, followed by Benoit Paire seeded third, and Roberto Bautista Agut seeded fourth.
The winner of the match between Ramanathan and Kudryactsev will face the winner of Aljaz Bedene and Luca Vanni. The bottom half of the draw has now opened up with the withdrawal of the South African. Bedene was a finalist last year so his goal is to obviously get back to try and defend his points. For anyone else, more wins will help improve their ranking.