Guillermo Canas has the edge
Times of India - December 29, 2002

The Tata Open boasts of the strongest field ever for the only ATP event in India. Every round should be tough and spectators can expect engrossing tennis from Day One. The players range from Guillermo Canas, the No. 1 seed and world No.15 from Argentina, to the 18-year-old Croatian prodigy Mario Ancic, ranked 113. Canas comes into this year's event as a slight favourite, since he knows the conditions in Chennai. But he will have his hands full with the competition.

Seeded No.2 is Paradorn Srichapan, last year's runner-up and Thai champion, who would like nothing better than to beat his 2002 performance. There will be more pressure on him in 2003. This year, he is the man to beat, the target, the good win, as opposed to 2002 when he was the underdog. Dutchman Sjeng Schalken, seeded third and ranked 20 has also had a remarkable year reaching two Grand Slam semifinals, at Wimbledon and the US Open.

He is a mature player and respected by his peers. Chela, Pavel, Schuettler, Pless and Burgsmuller round out the top eight seeds and are looking for a good win to start the year. Australia's Mark Phillippousis has recovered from his knee injury at the US Open and will be the main attraction at this year's Tata Open. His huge serve and his big hitting style of play have always been a treat to watch. If he gets a couple of matches under his belt, he will be hard to stop.

He is not seeded which makes him a threat to those who are. When he reached the 1998 US Open final and lost to countryman Pat Rafter, big things were expected of him. He didn't live up to his potential and though hampered by injuries, the tennis world thought he didn't quite have what it takes to win the big ones.