The field for 2008 ATP Chennai Open is getting stronger by the day with World No 16 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus becoming the fourth Top 20 player to confirm participation for the event starting here on December 31.
Spaniards Rafael Nadal (World No. 2) and Carlos Moya (17) and Russian Mikhail Youzhny (18) are the other Top 20 players to have already confirmed their participation in the 13th edition of the $ 436,000 tournament.
This year, Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open runner-up, finished in the Top 20 for the second straight year winning his second career tittle when he defeated world No.8 Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia at Zagreb. He also won a career-high 48 matches during the year.
The 22-year old Baghdatis is one of only three players to break into the Top 10 (since 1973) before winning his first career ATP title.
"Marcos is a special player. He is a wonderfully ebullient character who radiates immense enjoyment whenever and wherever he plays... I am confident that Chennai will be able to enjoy his style of tennis and we can expect some riveting performance from him," a release from the organisers on Wednesday quoted Tournament Director Fernando Soler as saying.