BELGIAN David Goffin will head into the 2021 Great Ocean Road Open as the standout favourite and only Top 15 player in the ATP 250 event. The second ATP Tour event of the year – running in conjunction with the Murray River Open – will provide competitors with a lead-in event to the Australian Open.

Goffin is the top seed ranked 14th in the world, with Karen Khachanov (20th) and Hubert Hurkacz (29th) the other Top 30 players in the draw. Teenage star Jannik Sinner rounds out the top four seeds at 36th in the world while all eight seeds are inside the Top 50. With the ATP Cup also taking place and Belgium the highest nation (by the criteria thanks to Goffin) not taking place, the talented, consistent player will be hard to beat here.

Now 30-years-old, Goffin has not won a title since 2017, so the event is a huge opportunity coming in as the top seed. He looked good in Antalya, where he won through to the semi-finals before a hard-fought loss to Australian Alex de Minaur in the penultimate round. Khachanov is in a similar but different boat to Goffin in the sense that his nation made the ATP Cup, but with two players ranked about the 20th ranked Russian, he missed out and will instead be another contender in this event.

Khachanov had a forgettable end to 2020 after reaching the Round of 16 at Roland Garros. Only having one Top 100 win – and three wins in his last eight matches – the Russian will be keen to turn it around to start 2021. Twelve months ago he had a great run at the ATP Cup where he won four of five singles matches on the way to Russia reaching the semi-finals.

Rising star Hurkacz is coming off a title at Delray Beach in 2021 and therefore the only title winner thus far in 2021. His form is strong, not dropping a set, but the highest ranked player he faced was 115th ranked Daniel Elahi Galan, whereas this tournament will be a step up again. Nonetheless with match practice under his belt he has to be considered.

Sinner will settle in as the fourth likely chance at the tournament, but his form is good enough from last year to suggest he could go all the way. He won the final tournament of the year in Sofia – his maiden title – by defeating the likes of Alex de Minaur, Adrian Mannarino and Vasek Pospisil on the way to the trophy. He also claimed wins over Goffin and Alexander Zverev at Roland Garros to reach the final eight, and knocked off sixth ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas in Rome a fortnight earlier. The Italian young gun is good value as a potential winner here with only a few players ranked ahead of him on paper.

A few others to watch at the tournament include seventh seed Miomir Kecmanovic and eighth seed Alexander Bublik, while ninth seed Tennys Sandgren returns to Australia since his quarter finals run at Melbourne Park 12 months ago. Local hope Jordan Thompson is the 11th seed in the draw, while the lowest seed in 63rd ranked Feliciano Lopez (16th seed). Some unseeded value includes South African Kevin Anderson and Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, as well as South Korean Soonwoo Kwon. Lower down the order, teenage Spanish talent Carlos Alcarez will test himself at Tour level, while Yen-Hsun Lu ranked way down in 1008th has been given a protected ranking of 71st.

Goffin deserves favouritism at this event, but Sinner is the one to watch. The top four are clearly the standouts at the tournament with the depth dropping off, though there are some troubling players for those talents such as Bublik or Anderson who could cause headaches.

Picture credit: Liubomir Asenov