Thiem meets Darderi, Zverev opens against Schwärzler · tennisnet.com

The draw for the Erste Bank Open in the Wiener Stadthalle is complete. While it Dominic Thiem at his farewell performance Luciano Darderi There is also a very exciting German-Austrian duel to see.

The draw for the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in the Vienna Stadthalle took place promptly on Saturday at lunchtime. We were there live at the “ceremony” and can provide you first-hand with all the important information about putting together the tableau.

First, the seeded players were inserted into the well-known tournament tree graphic, which then creates a theoretical quarter-final table for the experienced observer, if everything goes according to the good old paper format. Alexander Zverev, the German number one at the event, would meet the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, while style icon Grigor Dimitrov would have to tackle the young Brit Jack Draper. Crowd favorite Frances Tiafoe would have a compatriot duel with Tommy Paul and the lively Australian Alex de Minaur would also have a country comrade as an opponent in Alexei Popyrin.

Lucky lot for Thiem

But first the first two rounds have to be played out and the start already has some exciting entertainment offers: Above all, the triggering has resulted in a German-Austrian duel, which will at least offer a unique experience for the challenger. Because young hopeful Joel Schwärzler may or must – depending on the interpretation – play against tournament favorite Zverev. The Hamburg native has already entered the winners’ list of the Erste Bank Open in 2021. Last year, Zverev lost in three sets in the quarterfinals against Andrey Rublev.

For Dominic Thiem’s ​​farewell performance, Fortuna had possibly the best ticket for the ex-world number three in their luggage. The Lichtenwörther was assigned the Italian Luciano Darderi. The world number 44. is currently on a classic negative run; since the 250 clay court tournament in Umag, Croatia, Darderi has only won one match on the ATP tour – in Cincinnati he achieved a first-round victory against the Chilean Alejandro Tabillo. If Thiem actually accepted the Darderi hurdle, there would be a match in the round of 16 either against the Japanese wildcard player Kei Nishikori or against the seventh-ranked Briton Draper.

Other exciting first-round encounters: Jan-Lennard Struff challenges the second-seeded de Minaur, Dimitrov has to assert himself against the Chinese Zhizhen Zhang, Tiafoe has a tennis court date with Cameron Norrie (Great Britain), colleague Paul meets compatriot Brandon Nakashima. Crowd favorites Gael Monfils and Matteo Berrettini each open against a qualifier.