The wild card duo of Vishal Uppal and Ashuthosh Singh, the sole Indian entry in the doubles, face a tough task in the first round as they are pitted against the higher-ranked Tomas Behrend (Germany [Images]) and Robin Vik (Czech), at the Chennai Open ATP tournament.

The two carry the burden of keeping the country's interests alive after Leander Paes [Images] and Mahesh Bhupathi [Images] opted out of the event.

Uppal has not crossed the first round in the tournament in six appearances with different partners. He made his debut in 1998 with Sandeep Kirtane, and last played in 2005, partnering Mustafa Ghouse.

As for the favourites, the top two seeded pairs have decent records with creditable wins during 2006.

The top-seeded combine of Leos Friedl (Czech-ranked 21) and Michael Kohlmann (Germany-ranked 35), who have won three and a title respectively in 2006, have been drawn to play the unseeded French duo of Julien Benneteau and Nicholas Mahut in the first round.

Friedl had won ATP Tour titles in Acapulao, Buenos Aires while Sopot had partnered Indian ace Bhupathi to reach the semi-finals in Barcelona.

Kohlmann won the Houston title with Alexander Waske, who is figuring in the singles event.

It is unlikely to be easy run for defending champions Petr Pala (Cze-ranked 33) and Michal Mertinak (Slovakia-ranked 44) as they have been pitted against the Spanish wild card duo from Mallarco Island Rafael Nadal [Images] and Bartonome Salva-Vidal Nadal, who with his compatriot Tommy Robredo won the doubles title here in 2004.

The third seeded duo of Jeff Coetzee (South Africa-ranked 54) and Rogier Wassen (Netherlands-ranked 46) take on Ivo Karlovic and lovro Zovko of Croatia while fourth seeds Alexander Peya (Austria-ranked 52) and Boris Becker-trained Bjorn Phau (Germany-ranked 63) clash with James Auckland (Britain) and Stephen Huss (Australia).