Scouting Report: Ruud Headlines ATP’s Auckland Return; Rublev Goes Again In Adelaide

As the ATP Tour season builds toward the Australian Open, two events Down Under provide players their last chance to compete ahead of the year’s first Grand Slam.

A pair of ATP 250s — the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Adelaide International 2 — are next on the schedule, with World No. 3 Casper Ruud leading the field as the ATP Tour returns to Auckland for the first time since 2020. Former champion Andrey Rublev is the top seed in Adelaide, where hometown hero Thanasi Kokkinakis is back to defend his title.

ATPTour.com looks at 10 things to watch this week.

View Draws: Auckland | Adelaide

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN AUCKLAND
1) Ruud With Eye On World No. 1: After a breakthrough 2022 season in which he reached the final at Miami, Roland Garros, the US Open and the Nitto ATP Finals, Ruud began the new year at No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings — one spot off his career-high. After going 1-1 at the United Cup with a win against Thiago Monteiro and a loss to Matteo Berrettini, the Norwegian prepares for his first ATP Tour tournament of the season. He will be the top seed in his third Auckland appearance, with eighth seed John Isner a potential quarter-final opponent.

Ruud is currently 1,100 points behind World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, and — having missed out on the 2022 Australian Open through injury — is in prime position to make up ground in the coming weeks.

2) Norrie Aims To Stay Perfect: After producing a perfect 3-0 record as he led Great Britain to the United Cup semis — including wins against Rafael Nadal and Taylor Fritz — Cameron Norrie is seeded second in Auckland and will open against a qualifier. Norrie broke into the Top 10 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time last season, reaching a high of World No. 8, and currently sits at No. 12 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Though he was born in South Africa and plays under the British flag, Norrie will feel right at home in New Zealand, having been raised in Auckland. 

3) Three Argentine Seeds: Third seed Diego Schwartzman, fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo and seventh seed Sebastian Baez are joined by Pedro Cachin in the singles draw. While Schwartzman is the Argentine No. 1 at World No. 25, Cerundolo will have a chance to overtake him for that honour in Auckland as he enters the week less than 200 Pepperstone ATP Rankings points behind his countryman.

Argentina currently has seven men inside the Top 100, six of whom are competing in Auckland, with Federico Coria and Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the qualifying draw.

4) Big Servers Bublik, Isner In Top Half: Fifth seed Alexander Bublik and American Isner will add some pop to the top half of the draw. Kazakhstan’s Bublik’s opening match against David Goffin is the pick of the first-round contests.

Isner is one of five Americans in the main draw, joining Jenson Brooksby, wild card Ben Shelton, J.J. Wolf and Marcos Giron. Christopher Eubanks hopes to qualify to make it six. 

5) Mektic/Pavic Lead Doubles Draw: Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic will play their first match since defeat in the Nitto ATP Finals title match, facing the Australian duo of Ajeet Rai and Finn Reynolds. Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos are seeded second in the doubles draw.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN ADELAIDE
1) Can Rublev Roar Back?: After a disappointing first-round exit at the hands of Roberto Bautista Agut last week in Adelaide, Rublev returns with a fresh slate as he looks to get his 2023 season up and running. Following an opening-round bye, the top seed and 2022 Nitto ATP Finals semi-finalist will meet an Australian wild card: either defending champion and Adelaide native Kokkinakis or Alexei Popyrin.

2) Spanish Seeds: Second seed Pablo Carreno Busta joins fourth seed Bautisa Agut and seventh seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Adelaide, with Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas also in the draw. We could see an all-Spanish matchup as early as the second round, if Davidovich Fokina can beat Brandon Nakashima and Ramos-Vinolas gets past a qualifier. 

Carreno Busta is set for his first action of 2023, while Bautista Agut finds himself in the last 16 thanks to a first-round bye, one week after he upset Rublev to reach that stage at the Adelaide International 1.

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3) Aussie, Aussie, Aussie: Three Australian wild cards occupy consecutive lines in the top half of the draw. While Kokkinakis begins his title defence against Popyrin — Rublev awaiting the winner — Jason Kubler will open against a qualifier, with sixth seed Miomir Kecmanovic a potential second-round opponent. Five more Aussies are in the qualifying draw, including John Millman.

Popyrin seeks a second strong showing in Adelaide after qualifying and upsetting second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime on his way to the quarter-finals last week. Kubler will hope to back up his two United Cup No. 2 singles wins against Daniel Evans and Ramos-Vinolas.

4) Early Showdowns: Other popcorn first-round matchups include Kyle Edmund (who entered with a protected ranking) vs. Kecmanovic; Pune finalst Benjamin Bonzi vs. Maxime Cressy; eighth seed Tommy Paul vs. Yoshihito Nishioka; Lorenzo Sonego vs. Jack Draper; and Emil Ruusuvuori vs. Sebastian Korda, who will contest the Adelaide International 1 final against Novak Djokovic on Sunday.

5) Doubles No. 1s Back For More: Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski, who share the top spot in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings, are eager to replicate the red-hot start to their partnership from this time last year. The Dutch-British duo won seven tour-level titles in its first season, but stumbled out of the gate in 2023 with an opening-round loss to Mackenzie McDonald and Marcelo Melo last week in Adelaide.