London, Jul 29: A lucky Vishnu Vardhan on Sunday joined Somdev Devvarman in the men`s singles event of the tennis competition at the Olympics Games as he replaced injured Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in the draw, on Sunday.
Vardhan was given a last-minute place after the Germany player withdrew with a right hamstring injury.
Ranked 302 in the world, Vardhan was the highest-ranked player eligible to contest the men`s singles and faces world number 77 Blaz Kavcic of Slovakia in the first round today.
Vardhan won three ITF Futures events this year and is projected to reach a career-high ranking as a result of his inclusion in the men`s singles draw.
He is competing in the men`s doubles with Leander Paes. They will open their campaign against Dutch pair of Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer today.
