Cerúndolo and four other Hispanics will debut against favorites in Basel | ATP Tour

Basel

Cerúndolo and four other Hispanics will debut against favorites in Basel

This Saturday the ATP 500 draws from Switzerland and Austria were drawn

October 19, 2024

Several early rounds at Swiss Indoors Basel 2024 could easily be finals at any other ATP Tour tournament. After all, many championship matches on the calendar are defined by two members of the Top 40. The same will happen in several premieres of the ATP 500 in Basel, whose final draw begins on Monday.

The clearest example is that of the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and the Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo. Both the No. 11 in the PIF ATP Rankings and the No. 31 have been champions this season, and will now be seeking a place in the second round of the indoor event in Switzerland. It will be the first confrontation between the two (see full table).

Also at the top of the draw there will be a duel between members of the Top 35 for a place in the second round. It will also be played by Argentine Tomás Etcheverry, world No. 35, and American Ben Shelton, No. 17.

The 22-year-old left-hander leads the Lexus ATP HeadToHead 2-0 after coming back from 0-1 in sets this year in both the third round in Cincinnati and the semifinals in Houston. This time the winner will next face the winner of another great match: the one between the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino and the local Stan Wawrinka.

In other promising first-round matchups in Basel, Chilean Nicolás Jarry, No. 34 in the PIF ATP Rankings, will face No. 14 Holger Rune for the first time, while his compatriot Alejandro Tabilo, No. 23 in the rankings, will meet for the first time. Croatian Marin Cilic, currently at No. 200 in the rankings.

In addition, the Argentine Sebastián Báez, No. 27 in the ranking, will try to seek revenge against the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, No. 21 in the world and who leads the Lexus ATP HeadToHead 1-0 between them after winning this year in the Davis Cup.

While the Spaniards Pedro Martínez and Roberto Bautista Agut will make their first appearance of the week against the Czech Jiri Lehecka and the Norwegian Casper Ruud, respectively.

The Vienna painting was also revealed
Alexander Zverev and Álex de Minaur will be the first two seeds of the Erste Bank Open, another ATP 500 that will be held from Monday, but in Vienna. The German will start against the local Joel Schwaerzler, 18 years old and invited by the organization, while the Australian will debut against the German Jan-Lennard Struff, with whom he has a 4-2 record.

Not counting the possible presence of the Spanish Jaume Munar, who is in the last round of qualifying (he will face Quentin Halys), there will be two Hispanics in the main singles draw in the Austrian capital: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Mariano Navone (see full table) .

The Spaniard will clash in the first round with the Italian Flavio Cobolli, who leads the Lexus ATP HeadToHead 1-0 between them after winning this year in Washington in the third set tie-break and after saving five match points. This time the winner will face De Miñaur or Struff in the second round.

Navone, for its part, will face Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic for the first time. A victory would see him meet in the next round with eighth-seeded Australian Alexei Popyrin or a player from the qualifying round.

Vienna will also be Dominic Thiem’s ​​farewell tournament. The former No. 3 of the PIF ATP Rankings, invited by the organization, will debut against the Italian Luciano Darderi, No. 44 in the world.