Germany's [Images] Nicolas Kiefer, ranked 131, was awarded the third wild card into the singles main draw of the Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open 2007, to be held at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai from September 24.

Earlier, India's top player Rohan Bopanna and compatriot Somdev Dev Varman were given the first two wild cards for the tournament.

• Images: Sachin, Bhutia raise a racket

Kiefer, a semi-finalist at last year's Australian Open, had pulled out of the event last year. The German was touted to take over the baton from the legendary Boris Becker but erratic form and injuries have prevented him from fulfilling his potential.

The former world No 4 will join power-packed performers like Richard Gasquet, Marcos Baghdatis and former Wimbledon and US Open champion Lleyton Hewitt [Images] in battle for the US $416,000 prize.

Kiefer injured his wrist while playing at the 2006 French Open and announced his return on this July, having fallen to 404th place, from where he has propelled to 131 in a short time. He gave a glimpse of his prowess at Wimbledon, where he made the third round, defeating 27th ranked Filippo Volandri and then Fabrice Santoro, but succumbed to 5th ranked Novak Djokovic in a thrilling four-setter, three of which were tie-breakers.

He followed it up with two semi-final appearances at Los Angeles in July and last week at Beijing [Images].

While at Los Angeles he had to default because of an injury during the quarter-final, Kiefer entered as a wildcard in Beijing where he lost in the semis to third-seeded Tommy Robredo.

He has three ATP doubles titles under his belt and was finalist 12 times in the singles.

Former world number one Marat Safin [Images] withdrew from the Mumbai ATP last week, along with the Davis Cup semi-final and ATP events in Tokyo and Moscow [Images], due to a wrist injury.

The 22-year-old Varman won the USA F1 doubles title at Tampa, USA and also reached the quarter-finals of the singles at the same event. He also won the NCAA College Championship in May while playing for University of Virginia and qualified Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington DC earlier this year.

Bopanna, ranked number 252 in the world, has had a good run this year, with a singles title at the Challenger in Dublin and a semi-final appearance at Manchester.

In doubles, he notched five title wins.

The Indian was a wild card entrant in the singles in the first edition of the Mumbai Open last year too, where he succumbed in the first round but not before rattling the eighth seed Wesley Moodie, who won a hard-fought three-setter 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

However, in doubles, Bopanna and his partner Mustafa Ghouse upset the top and fourth seeds enroute to a final appearance against eventual winners Mario Ancic and Mahesh Bhupathi [Images].

The title didn't come easy for the third-seeded Ancic-Bhupathi, who scraped through 6-4, 6-7 (6), 10-8.

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