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Sardegna Open 2021: ATP tennis preview


The clay court season is underway! What can you expect from ATP tennis players from this week’s Sardegna Open in Cagliari?

Tennishead takes a look at one of the first two tournaments of the proper clay court season in the Sardegna Open. Which ATP tennis players feature and what matches might you expect to see?

Seeds

There are 28 participants at the Sardegna Open this year, with 8 seeds for the tournament and the top 4 seeds receiving a first round bye.

The seeds are as follows:

1. Daniel Evans (GBR)

2. Taylor Fritz (USA)

3. Lorenzo Sonego (ITA)

4. Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO)

5. Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)

6. John Millman (AUS)

7. Guido Pella (ARG)

8. Tommy Paul (USA) Out in first round

Potential Matchups

Lorenzo Musetti looks to be the hot topic heading into the tournament. The 19-year-old Italian is currently the youngest player ranked inside the ATP top-100, having made the Acapulco semi-finals and the third round of the Miami Open.

He will be looking to equal or better his result from the Sardegna Open last year, where he reached the last four. He first faces Austrian Dennis Novak. If Musetti wins he will then face top seed Dan Evans.

If Musetti were to better his 2020 result and reach the final, he could come up against a fellow youngster, 23-year-old no. 2 seed Taylor Fritz.

Musetti would likely have to defeat Nikoloz Basilashvili on the way to the final, with the Georgian having won two tour level events on clay before, both in Hamburg.

Finally, he could face any one of the other 5 Italians left in the tournament, including no. 3 seed Lorenzo Sonego.

Tour veteran Gilles Simon returns to the court after a short hiatus and faces Italian Stefano Travaglia in the first round, after which he would face Lorenzo Sonego if victorious.

Taylor Fritz could clash with another big server in Czech Jiri Vesely in his first match after a first round bye.

Qualifier Liam Broady and no. 1 seed Dan Evans could potentially make it an all-British affair in the semi-finals in the top half of the draw, but Broady would likely have to overcome Jan-Lennard Struff and Nikoloz Basilashvili to do so, no. 5 and no.4 seeds respectively.


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