Felix Auger-Aliassime Set For Tricky Path In Rotterdam Title Defence Bid - UBITENNIS

Felix Auger-Aliassime Set For Tricky Path In Rotterdam Title Defence Bid

Felix Auger-Aliassime will look to defend his Rotterdam title this week.

By Tony Fairbairn
3 Min Read

Defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime faces the likes of Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev in his path to winning a second consecutive Rotterdam title.

The Canadian will play his first match since his early Australian Open exit to Jiri Lehecka.

Auger-Aliassime returns to the scene where he won his first ATP title last February and will begin his title defence against Lorenzo Sonego.

A match against David Goffin could await in the second round before a potential quarter-final clash with Daniil Medvedev.

Medvedev, who hasn’t been in good form over the last six months, will face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his opening round match.

The sixth seed is looking to climb back into the world’s top ten with a deep run in Holland and Medvedev could face Borna Coric or home favourite Botic Van De Zandschulp in the second round.

In the other quarter of the bottom half of the draw, Andrey Rublev is looking to continue his decent start to the year when he takes on a tricky Alex De Minaur in the opening round.

De Minuar currently leads the head-to-head 2-1 so Rublev will need to play his best in order to set up a potential second round clash with Maxime Cressy.

Fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz is Rublev’s potential quarter-final and the Pole starts against Roberto Bautista Agut with Grigor Dimitrov potentially waiting in the second round.

Meanwhile top seed and last year’s finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas headlines the top half of the draw when he takes on Emil Ruusuvuori in his opening round.

Should Tsitsipas win then a potential Australian Open rematch with Jannik Sinner could await with their meeting in Melbourne going to five sets.

Tsitsipas’ potential quarter-final could be with Pablo Carreno Busta but it would be no surprise if the winner of Alexander Bublik and Stan Wawrinka’s opening round match met Tsitsipas in the last eight instead.

Also in the top half of the draw the likes of Holger Rune and Alexander Zverev are present as they look to set up a quarter-final clash.

Here is the draw with play starting on Monday:

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