Home Hopes Fritz, Shelton On Atlanta Collision Course

Taylor Fritz is in a stacked top quarter of the draw at the Atlanta Open, where the top seed will try to rejuvenate his 2023 ATP Tour season.

The World No. 9 Fritz takes on Dallas champion Wu Yibing or Corentin Moutet in his opening match at the hard-court ATP 250. Should the 25-year-old pass that test, his quarter-final opponent could be his #NextGenATP countryman Ben Shelton or Japan’s Kei Nishikori, playing his first tour-level event since October 2021.

Fritz went 3-4 across the recent grass season but has already lifted a title on North American hard courts this year, at the Delray Beach Open in July.

Nishikori, who underwent hip surgery in 2022, has racked up an 8-2 record on the ATP Challenger Tour since returning to competitive action in June. The 12-time tour-level titlist’s first opponent in Atlanta will be Australia’s Jordan Thompson.

Like Fritz, defending champion Alex de Minaur will have little time to find his feet in Georgia. The two-time Atlanta titlist meets the winner of a hard-hitting first-round showdown between Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis and wild card Gael Monfils. It will be a second Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting between the pair, after Monfils triumphed in straight sets in Kokkinakis’ hometown of Adelaide in 2022.

Fresh from his breakout run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals, Atlanta native Christopher Eubanks faces American wild card Andres Martin as he looks to continue his red-hot form. Eubanks is seeded to meet fourth seed Yoshihito Nishioka in the quarter-finals, with second seed De Minaur a potential semi-final opponent.

Daniel Evans is the third seed at Atlantic Station. The Briton’s opening opponent will be German Dominik Koepfer or record six-time champion John Isner. The 38-year-old Isner, who is competing in the Newport semi-finals on Saturday, holds a 37-6 record in Atlanta. He is joined in the second quarter of the draw by his fellow Americans Maxime Cressy and Alex Michelsen, who play each other, and eighth seed J.J. Wolf.

Ruud Meets Baez In Hamburg Opener
Casper Ruud’s clay-court prowess will be put to the test immediately at the third and final ATP 500 on the surface this season, the Hamburg European Open. The top-seeded Norwegian takes on two-time tour-level clay titlist Sebastian Baez in Germany, where fourth seed and home favourite Alexander Zverev is a potential semi-final opponent.

Andrey Rublev will chase a fast start against Bernabe Zapata Miralles in Hamburg, where fifth seed Francisco Cerundolo is a potential quarter-final opponent for the second seed. Also in the bottom half of the draw is defending champion Lorenzo Musetti, who outlasted Carlos Alcaraz at the Rothenbaum Tennis Center to win his maiden ATP Tour crown a year ago. The Italian begins his title defence against a qualifier.

Lehecka Could Face Thiem Early In Umag
Playing as a top seed at an ATP Tour event for the first time, Jiri Lehecka could face former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem in his opening match at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag. A maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting between the two will be set if Thiem can defeat a qualifier in his opening match at the clay-court ATP 250.

Home favourite and 2012 champion Marin Cilic, playing only his second tournament of the year after undergoing knee surgery, is a potential quarter-final opponent for Lehecka and Thiem. In the bottom half of the draw, 2006 champion Stan Wawrinka opens against a qualifier and is seeded to meet second seed Lorenzo Sonego in the semi-finals.