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Andalucia Open 2021: ATP tennis preview


Players are back on the clay! What can you expect from ATP tennis players at this week’s Andalucia Open in Marbella?

Tennishead highlights one of the first pair of tournaments in the full clay court season with the Andalucia Open. Which ATP tennis players are competing and what battles could you expect to watch?

Seeds

There are 28 players taking part at the Andalucia Open this year, with 8 seeds for overall and the top 4 seeds being given a first round bye.

The seeds are as follows:

1. Pablo Carreno Busta (SPA)

2. Fabio Fognini (WC) (ITA)

3. Casper Ruud (NOR)

4. Albert Ramos-Vinolas (SPA)

5. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (SPA)

6. Feliciano Lopez (SPA)

7. Soonwoo Kwon (KOR)

8. Federico Delbonis (ARG)

Potential Matchups

The draw features plenty of home talent, with 10 of the 28 players being Spanish, including 4 of the 8 seeds.

17-year-old Dane Holger Rune, who only recently won his first ATP tennis match in Santiago Chile, had his opener against 7th seed Soonwoo Kwon.

While an exciting prospect, the match has already taken place, with the South Korean winning through in a deciding tiebreak.

Another 17-year-old hopeful, Carlos Alcaraz, received a wildcard entry into the tournament and will face qualifier Nikola Milojevic first. If he can overcome the Serbian, the young Spaniard would likely face fellow countryman and no. 6 seed Feliciano Lopez, a man who is 22 years his senior.

No. 2 seed Fabio Fognini will be looking to start his clay season off right as the defending Monte Carlo Masters 2019 champion. He will face either Jaume Munar or qualifier Henri Laaksonen in the second round.

The quarter-finals could see Fognini face Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina before potentially Casper Ruud or another Spaniard in Feliciano Lopez in the semi-finals.

In fact, depending on how results fall and if Fognini makes it through to the final, the Italian could go through the whole tournament only facing Spanish opposition (R2: Munar → QF: Davidovich Fokina/Martinez → SF: Lopez/Alcaraz → F: Carreno Busta/Miralles/Viella Martinez/Ramos-Vinolas).

Top seed Pablo Carreno Busta is seemingly a wildcard among Spaniards, with many stronger results on hard than clay, but will hope to do well here.

He may face Argentina Open finalist Francisco Cerundolo in quarter-finals, then perhaps another Argentine in the semi-finals in the form of Federico Delbonis. An all-Spanish matchup could take place in the semi-finals between Carreno Busta and Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Finally, there is the chance of an all-Spanish last four. If one of Carreno Busta, Bernabe Zapata Miralles or Mario Viella Martinez face Ramos-Vinolas in the semi-finals, that sorts the top half.

On the bottom half of the draw, Jaume Munar, Pedro Martinez or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina could face Carlos Alcaraz or Feliciano Lopez in the bottom half semi-final.


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