The Australian Open is only one week away. Many top players in the world are resting up for the season’s first Grand Slam on the heels of a busy opening week of the 2024 ATP season in Brisbane, Hong Kong, and at the United Cup, but the fields in Auckland and Adelaide are still quite strong.
Ben Shelton, Cameron Norrie, Francisco Cerundolo, and Felix Auger-Aliassime are the top four seeds with first-round byes at the ASB Classic in Auckland. Chris Eubanks, Arthur Fils, Sebastian Ofner, and Max Purcell round out the seeded contingent. The unseeded ranks included Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet, Denis Shapovalov, Botic van de Zandschulp, and Roberto Bautista Agut.
Monfils, Shapovalov, and Bautista Agut all find themselves in the top quarter of the draw with Shelton. At the bottom of the bracket, Fils vs. Gasquet and Eubanks vs. Van de Zandschulp are first-round matches to watch.
At the Adelaide International, Tommy Paul, Nicolas Jarry, Sebastian Korda, and Lorenzo Musetti headline the field of 28 and have byes to the second round. They could be challenged for the title by fellow seeds Sebastian Baez, Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Jiri Lehecka, and Alexander Bublik. Although nobody from Australia is seeded, the host nation has plenty of legitimate contenders on its hands. Jordan Thompson (who upset Rafael Nadal in Brisbane), Thanasi Kokkinakis, Alexei Popyrin, Rinky Hijikata, and Christopher O’Connell are all in the Adelaide field.
Lehecka will face Popyrin in an intriguing opener, while Marton Fucsovics vs. Matteo Arnaldi is a rematch of the Brisbane first round–won by Arnaldi 9-7 in a third-set tiebreaker.
who ya got?