Stefanos Tsitsipas leads the line-up at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. The Greek star will play in the Austrian capital for the second time in his career.
Tsitsipas will face 2017 ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov in the first round. The Greek player will be looking to avenge his defeat against his Bulgarian opponent, who took the win in three sets 6-7 6-4 6-4 in their previous head-to-head match at last year’s edition of the Vienna tournament.
Tsitsipas and Dimitrov are level at 1-1 in their two head-to-head matches. Tsitsipas beat his Bulgarian opponent in their other match at Roland Garros in 2020. Tsitsipas could face last week’s Antwerp finalist Diego Schwartzman in the quarter finals. The Argentine player lost to Jannik Sinner in the Antwerp final. Schwartzman will meet Fabio Fognini in the opening match.
Tsitsipas will be aiming to win his third title this season following his triumphs in Monte-Carlo and Lyon.
Number 2 seed Alexander Zverev will play in the Erste Bank Open main draw for the second time. This year Zverev won two Masters 1000 titles in Madrid and Cincinnati and the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. The German player will open his Vienna campaign against Filip Krajinovic.
Matteo Berrettini will open his campaign against Alexei Popyrin. The Italian star is the third seed and has a good chance to qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin. This year Berrettini won two titles in Belgrade and Queen’s and reached two finals at the Madrid Masters 1000 and Wimbledon.
Hubert Hurkacz holds the final qualifying spot for Turin in ninth place with 2955 points, 110 points ahead of Jannik Sinner, who won his fourth title this season in Antwerp following his previous wins in Melbourne, Washington and Sofia. The 20-year-old Italian star also finished runner-up to Hurkacz in his first Masters 1000 final in Miami.
Sinner has become the first Italian player in history to win four ATP titles in the same season and is the youngest player to win five ATP Tour titles since 19-year-old Novak Djokovic claimed the Estoril trophy in 2007. Sinner will face a tough first round match against Reilly Opelka, who reached the Masters 1000 final in Toronto last August.
Sinner dropped just a total of eight games against Lloyd Harris in the semifinal and Diego Schwartzman in the final.
“Of course it’s on your mind trying to go there. I would be lying if it wasn’t like that. Every player feels pressure, but when you go on court you have to try to think about the match, your tactics against different players. I think this is the way to not think about Turin and all the other stuff. Obviously you would like to go to Turin or you want to win this match or that point, but sometimes it happens and sometimes it does not happen. You have to accept that. Honestly, I just try to play tennis”, said Sinner.
The line-up also features another Masters 1000 chmpion Cameron Norrie, who won at Indian Wells and is currently ranked 11th in the ATP Race to Turin with 2795 points ahead of this year’s US Open semifinalist Felix Auger Aliassime (2330 points).
Andy Murray will play in Vienna for the third time in his career as a wild card. Murray won the Austrian tournment twice in 2014 and 2016. He will take on Hurkacz, who won his previous head-to-head matches against the British player in Cincinnati and Metz. Murray beat Frances Tiafoe in a marathon match after 3 hours and 45 minutes in Antwerp last week.
Casper Ruud, who is seventh in the ATP Race to Turin with 3015 points, will meet Lloyd Harris in the opening round. The Norwegian player beat Harris 2-0 and beat his South African player in Indian Wells earlier this month.
Kevin Anderson got through to the qualifying round to secure his spot in the main draw. The 2018 Vienna champion will face Alex De Minaur, who won two titles in Antalya and Eastbourne. The top first-round matches are: Diego Schwartzman against Fabio Fognini, Gael Monfils against Lorenzo Musetti, Daniel Evans against Carlos Alcaraz.
This year’s Indian Wells champion Cameron Norrie will play his opening match against Marton Fucsovics.
The top first-round matches are: Gael Monfils against Lorenzo Musetti, Daniel Evans against Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger Aliassime against Ricardas Berankis.
