It is a huge week on tour, with a pair of 500-point tournaments on the schedule and four spots in the Nitto ATP Finals still up for grabs. Of the players who have either clinched spots in Turin or find themselves in realistic contention, only world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz are not playing in either Vienna or Basel. An especially loaded Vienna field features Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner, and Andrey Rublev, while Holger Rune, Andy Murray, and Stan Wawrinka are taking their talents to Basel.
Erste Bank Open
Where: Vienna, Austria
Surface: Indoor hard
Points: 500
Prize money: 2,409,835 Euros
Top seed: Daniil Medvedev
Defending champion: Daniil Medvedev
Draw analysis: The Vienna field is so stacked that players like Ben Shelton, Cameron Norrie, Grigor Dimitrov, and Lorenzo Musetti are unseeded. Shelton captured his first ATP title on Sunday at the 500-point tournament in Tokyo, climbing to No. 14 in the world. However, his No. 19 ranking at the time of the Basel draw ceremony wasn’t high enough to get a seed in Vienna. Thus the 21-year-old was at the mercy of the draw, and sure enough it pit him against Sinner in the opening round. Sinner will have revenge on his mind, having lost to Shelton at the Shanghai Masters. The bottom half of the Basel draw is also home Rublev, Alexander Zverev, Frances Tiafoe, and Stockholm champion Gael Monfils. Tiafoe has to face Evans in round one and possibly Monfils in the last 16.
Medvedev doesn’t have it easy at the top of the bracket, either. The third-ranked Russian will get his week started against Antwerp runner-up Arthur Fils and would then meet either Grigor Dimitrov or Lorenzo Musetti in round two. Stefanos Tsitsipas, Tommy Paul, Karen Khachanov, and Dominic Thiem also find themselves in the top half of the bracket. Tsitsipas vs. Thiem is a blockbuster first-round battle, with the winner on course to face either Paul or Tokyo runner-up Aslan Karatsev in the last eight.
Hot: Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev, Ben Shelton, Arthur Fils, Grigor Dimitrov, Roman Safiullin, Matteo Arnaldi, Gael Monfils
Cold: Stefanos Tsitsipas, Dominic Thiem, Cameron Norrie
Quarterfinal predictions: Daniil Medvedev over Karen Khachanov, Aslan Karatsev over Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev over Andrey Rublev, and Jannik Sinner over Dan Evans
Semifinals: Medvedev over Karatsev and Sinner over Zverev
Final: Sinner over Medvedev
Swiss Indoors Basel
Where: Basel, Switzerland
Surface: Indoor hard
Prize money: 2,196,000 Euros
Points: 500
Top seed: Holger Rune
Defending champion: Felix Auger-Aliassime
Draw analysis: Basel will take a bit of a back seat to Vienna this week, but it will be interesting to see how the top two seeds try to dig themselves out of cold spells in time to punch tickets to the year-end championship. Rune has been a disaster since reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and Casper Ruud has struggled since the end of the clay-court swing. There is a good chance that neither one even makes it out of the first round at this ATP 500 indoor tournament. Rune faces Miomir Kecmanovic, who beat the 20-year-old Dane this past week in Stockholm. Ruud has to go up against Alexander Bublik, who won the Antwerp title on Sunday.
The top half of the Basel draw is difficult beyond just the Rune vs. Kecmanovic opener, as it also includes Murray, Wawrinka, Taylor Fritz, and Sebastian Korda. Murray could meet Korda in round two, while Fritz vs. Wawrinka is also a potential second-round contest. The bottom half of the bracket is highlighted by recent Shanghai champion Hubert Hurkacz, who is on course to play Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals and possibly either Ruud, Bublik, Ugo Humbert, or Adrian Mannarino in the semis.
Hot: Hubert Hurkacz, Nicolas Jarry, Sebastian Korda, Alexander Bublik, Marcos Giron, Ugo Humbert, Adrian Mannarino
Cold: Holger Rune, Casper Ruud, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Jan-Lennard Struff, Roberto Bautista Agut, Botic van de Zandschulp
Quarterfinal predictions: Sebastian Korda over Miomir Kecmanovic, Stan Wawrinka over Botic van de Zandschulp, Tallon Griekspoor over Hubert Hurkacz, and Adrian Mannarino over Dominic Stricker
Semifinals: Korda over Wawrinka and Mannarino over Griekspoor
Final: Korda over Mannarino
who ya got?
Zverev was out of form lately but watching him now, he could win the whole thing.
But so could Sinner,Rublev or Meddy.
Thought Korda would go far but out already.
Korda, Tsit and Rune all seem out of form, Tsit and Rune for ages.Think Korda is unreliable anyway,
Yeah no faith in Korda.