Scouting Report: Goffin, Rublev Return Home; Dimitrov Back To Where It All Began

10 THINGS TO WATCH IN MOSCOW 

1. 250 Finales: The last of 40 ATP World Tour 250 events take place this week in Moscow, Antwerp and Stockholm. Seven Russians are in the VTB Kremlin Cup field, including Next Gen ATP Finals contenders Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev. A Russian man hasn’t won Moscow since 2009.

2. Birthday Boy: Rublev, who turns 20 on Friday, is playing in his hometown for the fifth straight year (0-2 main draw, 0-2 qualifying). He teamed with Dmitry Tursunov for the 2015 Moscow doubles title. The No. 5 seed was outside the Top 100 as recently as June 25. After winning his first singles title at Umag and reaching his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open, Rublev rose to No. 35. 

3. Rising Russians: While Rublev has achieved a new career-high ranking 12 times this season, fellow Moscow native Medvedev has done so seven times in 2017. However, the 21-year-old is on an eight-match losing streak since defeating Grigor Dimitrov at Washington on August 3.

4. Others to Watch: Among the other Russians in the field are Evgeny Donskoy and Roman Safiullin. Donskoy, 27, saved three match points to hand Roger Federer his first loss of the season at Dubai. Safiullin, 20, is making his ATP World Tour debut in Moscow on Monday.

5. Spanish Seeds: Defending champion Pablo Carreno Busta and fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas are the Top 2 seeds at the VTB Kremlin Cup. Carreno Busta leads Sam Querrey by 90 points in the Emirates ATP Race to London as they battle for the last spot at the Nitto ATP Finals.

6. Career Year: No. 3 seed Adrian Mannarino has matched a career-best by winning 28 matches this season. Twenty of Mannarino’s victories have come since June 26, including the biggest of his career over No. 5 Marin Cilic in the Tokyo semi-finals. The Frenchman is still seeking his first title.

7. 30-Win Club: No. 4 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber is one victory away from his 11th straight 30-win season. Only Rafael Nadal (14), Tomas Berdych (13) and Novak Djokovic (12) have longer active streaks. Kohlschreiber has not played since September 18 at St. Petersburg due to a virus. 

8. What a Run: No. 6 seed Damir Dzumhur went 18-3 from July 31 to September 29, culminating in a win over World No. 4 Alexander Zverev at Shenzhen. Dzumhur reached his first final at Winston-Salem and captured his first title at St. Petersburg to break into the Top 40 on September 25.

9. ATP’s Iron Man: No player in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings has played more tournaments in 2017 than No. 7 seed Paolo Lorenzi. The VTB Kremlin Cup marks Lorenzi’s 32nd tournament of the season, including two Challenger events and excluding two Davis Cup ties. Lorenzi, who celebrates his 36th birthday on December 15, is the fifth-oldest player in the Top 100.

10. Moscow Max: Max Mirnyi earned his first of 751 doubles wins at 1996 Moscow. The 40-year-old Belarusian played in Moscow each year from 1995-2006, winning one of his four VTB Kremlin Cup doubles titles with Federer in 2002. Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald are the No. 1 seeds this week.

10 THINGS TO WATCH IN ANTWERP

1. Belgian Homecoming: The European Open boasts David Goffin, Steve Darcis and Ruben Bemelmans, who led Belgium to its second Davis Cup final in three years (Belgium at France November 24-26).

2. Banner Year: Goffin, who was the top seed at the inaugural European Open in 2016, returns as the No. 1 seed. After 24 weeks ranked No. 11, the Belgian broke into the Top 10 on February 20, beat then-No. 2 Novak Djokovic at Monte-Carlo for the biggest win of his career on April 21, and snapped a six-final losing streak with titles at Shenzhen on October 1 and Tokyo on October 8.

3. Darcis Delivers: Like his countryman Goffin, Darcis earned four Davis Cup victories this season and a career-high in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The 33-year-old debuted in the Top 40 on May 22 more than nine years after cracking the Top 50. Darcis has reached four quarter-finals in 2017. 

4. Belgian Pride: Bemelmans has represented Belgium in 18 straight Davis Cup ties since 2010, squaring off with the likes of Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Lleyton Hewitt. This season, the 29-year-old left-hander qualified at Wimbledon for the fourth time and captured his fifth Challenger title.

5. French Resistance: Three Frenchmen are in the field prior to the end of qualifying, led by No. 2 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The French No. 1 accepted the European Open’s final wild card on Friday. Tsonga returns after missing the ATP’s three-week swing in China with a knee injury. 

6. Highs and Lows: No. 3 seed Nick Kyrgios is back in Belgium after defeating Darcis and losing to Goffin at the Davis Cup semi-finals last month in Brussels. Over his past four tournaments, Kyrgios reached finals at Cincinnati and Beijing but lost in the first round at the US Open and Shanghai.

7. Most Improved: No. 4 seed Diego Schwartzman entered 2017 with 31 wins. The 2016 Antwerp finalist has 33 this season alone, including Top 10 wins over Dominic Thiem and Marin Cilic. At the US Open, the 5-foot-7 Argentine became the shortest Grand Slam quarter-finalist in 23 years.

8. Ferrer Returns: No. 5 seed David Ferrer has not played since the US Open due to a right foot injury. The Spaniard won only three matches through the first four months of 2017. Ferrer found his form from there, claiming his 27th title at Bastad and earning 20+ victories for the 15th straight year. 

9. Race to Milan: Six spots at the Next Gen ATP Finals are on the line with two weeks left in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan. Young Americans Jared Donaldson, Frances Tiafoe and Ernesto Escobedo are in Antwerp. Escobedo opens against 18-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

10. Doubles Legends: The winningest doubles players of all time are in Antwerp: Daniel Nestor (1,056 victories), Bob Bryan (1,052) and Mike Bryan (1,038). The Bryans qualified for their 15th straight Nitto ATP Finals last week. Nestor is teaming at the European Open with Dominic Inglot.

10 THINGS TO WATCH IN STOCKHOLM

1. Stellar Seeds: At the Intrum Stockholm Open, Top 4 seeds Grigor Dimitrov, Kevin Anderson, Jack Sock and Juan Martin del Potro will battle in the Emirates ATP Race to London.

2. Back for More: Dimitrov makes his fifth consecutive and seventh overall appearance in Stockholm, where he won his first ATP title in 2013 and fell to the eventual champion in 2014-16. The Bulgarian captured the biggest of his seven career titles at ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati on August 20. 

3. Comeback Kev: Since the start of 2016, Anderson has endured injuries to his ankle, elbow, groin, hip, knee and shoulder. He fell to No. 80 on January 16, 2017 and was No. 32 when he became the lowest-ranked US Open finalist in history. Anderson returned to the Top 15 on September 11.

4. Sock’s Off: Sock started the season 11-1 and was the first player on tour to earn 20 victories in 2017. But the 2015 and 2016 Stockholm finalist is 8-11 since peaking at No. 14 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on April 17. Sock returns to Stockholm on a career-long five-match losing streak.

5. Del Po’s Difficult Draws: Del Potro, the defending Stockholm champion, returns as the No. 4 seed and seeks his first final of 2017. The Argentine has endured difficult draws throughout the year, falling to a Top 10 player at 10 of his 15 events. Del Potro made major strides against the Top 10 at the US Open, upsetting No. 8 Dominic Thiem and No. 3 Roger Federer en route to semi-finals.

6. Career Year: Wild card and No. 5 seed Mischa Zverev is enjoying a career year. The elder Zverev brother reached the third round at Wimbledon, fourth round at the US Open and quarter-finals at the Australian Open, where he upset then-No. 1 Andy Murray. He cracked the Top 25 on July 24.

7. Closing in on Milan: With two weeks remaining in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan, 21-year-old Hyeon Chung leads Daniil Medvedev by three points for the last of seven spots at the Next Gen ATP Finals. Chung is in Stockholm and Medvedev is in Moscow seeking valuable points this week.

8. Long Time Coming: Former World No. 8 Marcos Baghdatis has not won an ATP title since the second week of the 2010 season at Sydney. Baghdatis has lost six finals since then, but Stockholm was the scene of one of his four titles. The Cypriot did not drop a set en route to the 2009 title.

9. Brotherly Love: Swedes Elias and Mikael Ymer received singles and doubles wild cards. They saved four match points en route to the 2016 Stockholm doubles title. Elias, 21, is 0-2 in singles at Stockholm. Mikael, 19, defeated Fernando Verdasco for his first ATP win at 2016 Stockholm.

10. Reunited: The Ymers are joined in the doubles draw by No. 2 seeds Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer and No. 4 seeds Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares. From July 2012 to November 2015, Peya played all but five tournaments with Soares, winning 12 titles as a team. Qureshi played all but two tournaments with Rojer in 2012-13, capturing the 2013 Stockholm title.