A pair of stellar names highlight a tournament in a country well-known for producing great tennis players. The Stockholm tournament has in Grigor Dimitrov and Juan Martin del Potro a pair of Shanghai semi-finalists. Both happen to have fond memories of this event with both former winners in the Swedish capital.
Del Potro is the defending champion of the event. He defeated American Jack Sock for the title last year. The Argentine is the 4th seed this year, and will likely have to reproduce his title run if he is to cling on to his dwindling hopes of qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals. Del Potro has a kind section with 7th seed Yuichi Sugita likely his toughest opponent.
Del Potro’s potential semi-final opponent is someone whose chances of qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals is significantly greater. 2nd seed Kevin Anderson lost early in Shanghai, but the tall South African has a good opportunity to press his case for London with a good week. He has Hyeon Chung and 8th seed Fernando Verdasco for company.
The top half of the draw is dominated by the opposing figure of Grigor Dimitrov. A champion of this event in 2013, when he defeated David Ferrer, Dimitrov, like del Potro and Anderson, is on a mission to reach London. The Bulgarian has a kind section on paper, with the out-of-form Mischa Zverev his seed in the quarter-finals. The in-form Viktor Troicki is also in Dimitrov’s section though, and the unseeded Serbian could cause an upset should he face Dimitrov.
3rd seed Jack Sock’s second section has some tricky-looking matches. Leonardo Mayer has played well in the last two months, whilst 6th seed Fabio Fognini is always unpredictable. Sock’s injury-ravaged second half of the season continued with a withdrawal from both the singles and the doubles in the Shanghai Masters due to dehydration.
With the tennis season quickly coming to a close, a number of plot-lines and stories are still to wrapped up. With qualification for the ATP World Tour Finals still very much up for grabs for some of these players, it is still all to play for on the ATP World Tour.
