ONE of the most star-studded fields outside a Grand Slam will enter the Erste Bank Open in Vienna with only Rafael Nadal, Alexander Zverev and the injured Roger Federer as the key omissions from the tournament. World number one Novak Djokovic and US Open winner Dominic Thiem are the top two seeds in a huge 32-draw tournament.
Djokovic opens his account with a clash against compatriot Filip Krajinovic, while Thiem has a challenging first-up clash against past Grand Slam winner Kei Nishikori who has been able to use a protected ranking to enter the draw. Also using a protected ranking is South African Kevin Anderson who takes on Austrian wildcard Dennis Novak in the opening round. Italian young gun Jannik Sinner and Austrian Jurji Rodionov have the other two wildcards, while Daniel Evans‘ deep run in Antwerp has earned him a special exemption into the tournament and a first up qualifier in the draw.
A massive first round draw sees fourth seed Daniil Medvedev taking on Australian Alex de Minaur in what promises to be a massive first round clash, as does the in-form Pablo Carreno Busta taking on the out-of-sorts seventh seed Gael Monfils. Third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas takes on late entry Jan-Lennard Struff who due to Zverev’s exit after a busy schedule in Germany, took his compatriot’s place and avoided qualifying. Sixth seed Diego Schwartzman takes on Serbian Dusan Lajovic and fifth seed Andrey Rublev takes on a qualifier, while eighth seed Denis Shapovalov meets Rodionov.
There are only the three past winners in the draw with Djokovic having not won since 2007, while Anderson and Thiem have won the past two years. Last year Thiem came from behind to defeat Schwartzman in three sets, 3-6 6-4 6-3 with Matteo Berrettini and Monfils reaching the semi-finals. Karen Khachanov, Rublev, Carreno Busta and Aljaz Bedene all made the quarter finals whilst Anderson won in 2018 with a win over Nishikori. Khachanov is taking on Grigor Dimitrov in the first round of the draw setting up a potential tantalising Round of 16 clash with Tsitsipas, while Thiem could face Stan Wawrinka in the second round.
With qualifying underway, the event kicks off on Monday with the event the last of the ATP 500s, with the Paris Masters and ATP Finals rounding out the year for the world’s top players alongside a couple of ATP 250 tournaments.
Picture: ATP Tour
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