Paes, Bhupathi for Thailand Open

The dynamic Indian duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will be playing in the singles of the $50,000 King's Cup Thailand Open, which kicks off on Monday at the Muang Thong Thani Complex, Bangkok, Thailand, in a bid to improve their rankings.

Paes, who got a direct entry into the event, will face qualifier Lior Dahan of Israel, while his doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi got a wildcard and will face Suwandi Suwandi of Indonesia in the first round.

Paes, who has not played much singles tennis this year, is trying to improve his ranking which has fallen a bit. He is currently ranked 298 on the ATP listings.

Another Indian, Mustafa Ghouse went down in the second round of the qualifier. Ghouse, who was seeded eighth, had a first round bye, but lost to Andrei Merinov of Russia 1-6, 3-6 in the second.

Thailand's hopes rest on third seed Paradorn Srichaphan. He will face Peter Luczak of Australia in the first round. Andrei Stoliarov of Russia is the top seed, while Hyung-Taik Lee of Korea is the second seed.