Alcaraz-Draper, Ruud-Wawrinka Headline Basel Draw
There will be no shortage of popcorn matchups in the first round of the Swiss Indoors Basel.
World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz will start his tournament against #NextGenATP 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 Nitto 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 rhythm in Switzerland.
The last time Ruud competed in Basel, in 2019, the Norwegian lost in the second round of qualifying. Now he is the No. 3 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and will pursue his fourth title of the season. Ruud has proven successful in Switzerland, lifting four of his nine ATP Tour trophies in the country.
It will not be easy against Wawrinka, the home favourite who is trying to win his first title in Basel. The two-time semi-finalist, who recently advanced to the last four in Metz, will try to blast through Ruud’s heavy groundstrokes at the ATP 500.
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The battle between seventh seed Alex de Minaur and Holger Rune could also provide plenty of entertainment. De Minaur is one of the quickest players on the ATP Tour, but he will also try to take the action to Rune to prevent the Dane from controlling play with his big baseline game.
Felix Auger-Aliassime, who is seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, will open against home favourite Marc-Andrea Huesler. Former World No. 1 Andy Murray will play Roman Safiullin. Murray was originally slated to play American Sebastian Korda, who withdrew due to injury.