A STACKED field takes part in another ATP 500 event, this time in Vienna, Austria which kicks off tonight. It is one of two majors events on the ATP Tour this week, with the other being an ATP 250 event in St. Petersburg, which still features a number of up-and-coming stars.

Erste Bank Open ATP 500

The field of 32 features five Top 10 players, with the key omissions being the trio of injured players – Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem and Rafael Nadal – as well as US Open winner Daniil Medvedev, whilst Andrey Rublev headlines the Russian event in his home country. Aside from Rublev, the majority of the top-end players have rocked up to Vienna in search of more points and more prizemoney, and Greek sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas leads the field. The top seed takes on the in-form Grigor Dimitrov who came runner-up at Indian Wells, defeating top seed Medvedev as well as Hubert Hurkacz and Reilly Opelka who both feature here. The first round match is set to be a cracker.

In the same quarter of the draw, Diego Schwartzman (eighth seed) faces former Top 10 talent Fabio Fognini in an unlucky first round contest, with the winner to take on either the reborn Gael Monfils or Italian teen sensation Lorenzo Musetti. Speaking of Italians, Jannik Sinner is seventh seed in Vienna with a first round clash with Opelka, but a relatively simple run to the quarter finals with either Dennis Novak or a qualifier standing in his way in the second round. Sinner is in the same quarter as Casper Ruud, though like Schwartzman and Tsitsipas, he has copped a rough first round opponent in the red hot Lloyd Harris. The pair played a few weeks back at Indian Wells, with Ruud having to pull every trick in the book out to defeat the big-serving South African, eventually winning 6-7 6-4 6-4 in a nail-biter.

In the bottom half of the draw, second seed German Alexander Zverev takes on Serbian Filip Krajinovic in the Round of 32, before a second round contest with Australian Alex de Minaur who pushed Tsitsipas all the way at Indian Wells. Speaking of Indian Wells, the winner there in rising Brit Cameron Norrie is still unseeded at this tournament, but is now one of the highest unseeded players in the draw, ranked 16th in the world. He takes on dangerous Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in the first round, with the winner likely to lock horns with seed seed Canadian, Felix Auger-Aliassime.

The third quarter of the draw has outstanding matches galore, clearly the section most to watch. Third seed Matteo Berrettini is expected to advance to the second round taking on a qualifier, but will play the winner of the in-form Nikoloz Basilashvili and always tough Pablo Carreno Busta. The other main seed in the section is fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz who will do battle with British wildcard Andy Murray, with the winner to face either Carlos Alcaraz or Daniel Evans who have both had sensational years in different ways.

It is a wide open field with so many outstanding first round matches, though Zverev and Sinner seem to be among the seeds with a slightly better run deep, though you can never discount Tsitsipas who will arguably be favourite at the event as top seed.

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St. Petersburg Open ATP 250

Not quite as prestigious, the ATP 250 event still has some quality players fronting up, particularly from the home nation. Top seed Rublev has a bye in the opening round and will play either Laslo Djere or Ilya Ivashka in the second round, and a quarter finals date with eighth seed and Top 40 player Sebastian Korda looks to be on the cards. Joining him in the the event is the other Top 15 player in Canada’s Denis Shapovalov who is seeded second and will take on Pablo Andujar or Federico Delbonis in the Round of 16. Australian James Duckworth and Kazakh seventh seed Alexander Bublik look to be the biggest threats to Shapovalov’s run.

In the same half of the draw, fourth seed Russian Aslan Karatsev will likely face Australian John Millman in the second round, with an all-American battle touted for the other Round of 16 match in the section, between Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul. In the last remaining section, sixth seed Russian Karen Khachanov is the other hope for the home fans, taking on Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the first round. Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Marin Cilic tee off for the right to face the winner of that pair whilst third seed Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut and United States’ Mackenzie McDonald look set to face-off in the Round of 16.

Rublev is the top seed at St. Petersburg and overwhelming favourite, though Shapovalov and Karatsev are other main chances at the event.

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Picture credit: Garrett Ellwood / USTA

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