Scouting Report: Murray & Alcaraz Lead Winston-Salem Field
In a stacked field, some of tennis’ most exciting talents are set to compete this week at the Winston-Salem Open in North Carolina. Great Britain’s Andy Murray leads the way with #NextGenATP stars Carlos Alcaraz and Lorenzo Musetti also in action at the ATP 250 hard-court event.
Other players competing include Nick Kyrgios, Daniel Evans, David Goffin and Pablo Carreno Busta as well as former World No. 3 Marin Cilic.
Before play begins, ATPTour.com looks at five things to watch in Winston-Salem.
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1) Murray Looking For Momentum: The former World No. 1 will compete in his sixth tour-level singles tournament of the season at the Winston-Salem Open. It is the second time that Murray is competing in North Carolina, having made his tournament debut in 2019. The Scot defeated Richard Gasquet in Cincinnati before falling to Pole Hubert Hurkacz in the second round earlier this week. After accepting a wild card into the ATP 250 event, Murray will face Kyrgios in a blockbuster first-round match.
[FOLLOW ACTION]2) #NextGenATP Stars In Action: #NextGenATP’s Carlos Alcaraz and Lorenzo Musetti will aim to continue their breakthrough seasons on their Winston-Salem debuts at the tournament. The 18-year-old Alcaraz, No. 55 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, captured his first tour-level title in Umag last month and will begin against either American Steve Johnson or a qualifier. Musetti will be aiming to snap a five-match losing streak in his opening round clash against Federico Coria.
Watch Highlights Of Alcaraz’s First Title In Umag
3) Wild Cards: Alongside Murray, Pablo Carreno Busta, David Goffin and Daniel Evans have accepted wild cards into the Winston-Salem Open. Top seed Carreno Busta lifted the title here in 2016, and will be pursuing his third ATP Tour trophy of the season. The Spaniard will open against Moldovan Radu Albot or South Korean Soonwoo Kwon. Belgium’s Goffin, who reached the quarter-finals in North Carolina in 2012 and 2014, is the second seed. Goffin could face 13th seed Frances Tiafoe in third round.
Evans is making his third appearance at the ATP 250 event and will be aiming to win his second tour-level trophy, having captured the Murray River Open crown in Melbourne this February. The third seed will open his campaign against Spaniard Feliciano Lopez or a qualifier.
4) Can Kyrgios and Cilic Find Form? Australian Kyrgios and Croatian Cilic will be making their debuts at the Winston-Salem Open. Kyrgios will be competing in his seventh tour-level event of the season, most recently playing in Toronto. The World No. 81 will meet Tiafoe in the second round if he overcomes Murray.
Sixth seed Cilic will be aiming to clinch his second tour-level title of the season. The 32-year-old, who triumphed in Stuttgart, reached the second round in both Toronto and Cincinnati and could face Carreno Busta in the quarter-finals. He notably pushed Daniil Medvedev to five sets at Wimbledon.
5) Kubot/Melo In Doubles Action: After reuniting in June, Polish-Brazilian tandem Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo will compete together in their fifth tour-level tournament of the season this week in Winston-Salem. The top seeds, who have captured 15 tour-level trophies as a team, including four ATP Masters 1000s, won the title in North Carolina in 2019.
French pair Nicholas Mahut and Fabrice Martin are the second seeds, South African Raven Klaasen and Japan’s Ben McLachlan are seeded third and Italian Simone Bolelli and Argentine Maximo Gonzalez are the fourth seeds.