World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz will start his Swiss Indoors Basel campaign against Briton Jack Draper, while second seed Casper Ruud will open against former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka. Both clashes will be first-time ATP Head2Head meetings.
Alcaraz will meet Draper in what could be the first meeting of a longtime rivalry. Alcaraz is set to compete in his first ATP Finals, while Draper will make his Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals debut. The lefty, who has an all-around game, will try to prevent his Spanish opponent from finding the rhythm in Switzerland.
Ruud lost in the second round of qualifying in 2019 when he last competed in Basel. With four of his nine ATP Tour titles won in Switzerland, Ruud has demonstrated his success there.
Taking on Wawrinka, the hometown favourite who is attempting to win his maiden championship in Basel, won't be simple. At the ATP 500, the two-time semi-finalist, who most recently reached the final four in Metz, will attempt to smash past Ruud's powerful groundstrokes.
Additionally entertaining is the matchup between Holger Rune and Alex de Minaur, the seventh seed. One of the swiftest players on the ATP Tour, De Minaur will attempt to take action against Rune in order to stop the Dane from dominating the match with his powerful baseline game.
The ATP Live Race to Turin's seventh-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime will face home favourite Marc-Andrea Huesler in the opening round. Andy Murray, a former World No. 1, will face Roman Safiullin. Sebastian Korda, an American, withdrew due to an injury, and Murray was originally supposed to replace him.
( With inputs from ANI )
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