You won’t have to wait long for thrilling action at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna. Not only are eight members of the Top 15 in the ATP Rankings competing, but four first-round matches will be between players inside the Top 30 of the ATP Rankings. And perhaps more importantly, two of them involve players making a push to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals.

Top seed Dominic Thiem will face a stern test in his first match against the in-form Richard Gasquet. The Frenchman has beaten Thiem in both of their previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings — including in Vienna last year — and he has shown a high level of late.

Gasquet triumphed at the Libema Open and reached the semi-finals of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2018 and this week’s European Open in Antwerp. Thiem has a lot at stake, as he is battling for a spot at The O2 in London from 11-18 November. The Austrian, who will be competing in front of his home crowd, is currently in eighth place in the ATP Race To London. His best performance in Vienna came in 2013, when he reached the quarter-finals.

Thiem could face red-hot Kei Nishikori, the fifth seed, in the quarter-finals. The Japanese star, who is currently 10th in the Race, plays #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe in the first round.

The No. 2 seed at the ATP World Tour 500-level event is Kevin Anderson, who is seventh in the Race. The South African, who is trying to qualify for the season finale for the first time, opens against Nikoloz Basilashvili, who has captured two titles (Hamburg, Beijing) at this level this year.

In 2017, Anderson finished his season on a three-match losing streak, including a first-round loss in Vienna against World No. 81 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The second seed will hope to change that this year, having made the quarter-finals at the Rolex Shanghai Masters and in Tokyo.

The winner of Anderson and Basilashvili could face former World No. 3 Milos Raonic, who plays Jurgen Melzer in what will be the Austrian’s final singles event. Borna Coric, who made his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final in Shanghai, is in the same quarter of the draw. In the second round, Coric could play the defending champion, Lucas Pouille, who is trying to claim his sixth ATP World Tour title. The unseeded Frenchman kicks off his tournament against German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Fourth seed John Isner, the No. 9 player in the Race, is also on the bottom half of the draw. The American opens against a qualifier, and could face Antwerp finalist Gael Monfils or compatriot Steve Johnson in the second round.

Roger Federer might have a chance to avenge his shocking fourth-round loss at this year’s US Open in the second round of the Swiss Indoors Basel, the 37-year-old’s home tournament.

If Federer, an eight-time champion in Basel, wins his first-round match against 2017 Paris finalist Filip Krajinovic, and Aussie John Millman defeats German Jan-Lennard Struff, the pair will meet for the second time in less than two months. Millman stunned Federer at the year’s final Grand Slam, sending the No. 2 seed home after four tight sets.

Federer has long enjoyed success in Basel, holding a 66-9 record at the event and a 15-match winning streak. He has advanced to the final in his past 11 appearances at the tournament. The last time Federer did not reach the championship match was in 2003, when he was just 22 years old.

This will be the 98-time tour-level champion’s 18th appearance in the Basel main draw, where he grew up as a ballboy. Federer first played qualifying at the event when he was 16.

Millman is enjoying the best season of his career, currently placed at a career-high No. 33 in the ATP Rankings. The 29-year-old is making his Basel debut. The first seeded opponent Federer could face is No. 5 seed Jack Sock. But the American is playing Ernests Gulbis, who beat him this week in Stockholm, in the first round. Gulbis is competing in Sunday’s Intrum Stockholm Open final against #NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.

All eyes will be on a tantalising first-round match in the bottom half of the draw between third seed Marin Cilic and #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov. It will be the pair’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting, but an interesting stylistic clash between two players who like to control the match with big serving and aggressive play from the baseline.

Cilic is trying to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth time. The Croatian will enter the week sixth in the ATP Race To London, next in line to earn a spot at the season finale, to take place at The O2 in London from 11-18 November.

Also in the bottom half of the draw is No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev, who begins his tournament against Dutchman Robin Haase. While their FedEx ATP Head2Head series is knotted at 2-2, Haase has won the pair’s two most recent meetings, including a three-set win earlier this year at the Western & Southern Open.

In the same quarter as Zverev is former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, who is pursuing his first title since Geneva last year. Wawrinka will face Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, who is competing in Sunday’s VTB Kremlin Cup final. The winner will face No. 8 seed Roberto Bautista Agut or Portugal’s Joao Sousa, who triumphed in Estoril earlier this season.

Kyle Edmund reached his second tour-level championship match of the season on Saturday, beating former champion Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-4 at the European Open.

While Gasquet beat the Brit in the last four two years ago, this time it was Edmund who came out on top, firing 16 aces in a clinical 77-minute serving performance. The British No. 1, who will attempt to capture his first tour-level crown on Sunday, entered the match with a tournament-leading 85 per cent success rate behind his first serve and improved that figure by dropping just three of 35 points behind his first delivery to earn his 34th match win of 2018.

“I served well today. When I needed my serve it got me out of trouble and also got me some free points,” said Edmund.

World No. 15 Edmund, who is yet to drop serve this week in Antwerp, improves to 3-1 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Gasquet and will look to become the first man outside of France to capture the European Open trophy on Sunday. The Grand Prix Hassan II runner-up will once again meet French opposition in the final, following Gael Monfils’ 6-3, 6-4 victory over Diego Schwartzman.

“Of course, I would like [my final experience] to be different this time,” said Edmund. “But I can’t think about the end result. I have to think about the process of winning a tennis match against a very good player.”

Looking to follow in the footsteps of French champions Richard Gasquet (2016) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2017), Monfils landed 10 aces and converted three of five break points en route to his second final of the season. The Frenchman, who captured his seventh tour-level trophy at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in January, is also bidding to lift multiple tour-level titles in a single season for the first time. Monfils owns a 1-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Edmund after defeating the Brit in straight sets in their only previous meeting at 2017 Wimbledon.

“I am relieved to have been able to win this match in two sets,” said Monfils. “Luckily I could count on my strong first service.”

This year’s Rio Open presented by Claro winner was aiming to extend his record of reaching each championship match at the Antwerp-based event. In his only previous semi-final appearance in 2018, the World No. 17 triumphed in straight sets before beating Fernando Verdasco to win the biggest title of his career in Rio de Janeiro.