ATP Tour

Rotterdam

Sinner faces familiar foe in Rotterdam first round

Jannik Sinner will face Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in the first round at the ABN ARMO Open, the top seed’s first match since he won his maiden major title at the Australian Open last month. The draw for the year’s first ATP 500 took place Friday evening in Rotterdam.

The Italian, who defeated van de Zandschulp in the first round in Melbourne in their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting, advanced to the final in Rotterdam last season. He could meet two-time champion Gael Monfils in the second round and is seeded to meet Montpellier champion Alexander Bublik in the quarter-finals. Pole Hubert Hurkacz, who is still alive in Marseille this week, is a potential semi-final opponent.

In coming weeks Sinner has a strong chance to move past Daniil Medvedev to a career-high No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Medvedev, who fell to Sinner in the Australian Open final, will not defend his title in Rotterdam and also soon has champion’s points dropping in Doha and Dubai. A little further afield he has 600 points dropping from his run to the Indian Wells final.

Sinner has won 13 of his past 14 matches indoors, a streak that includes two wins over Novak Djokovic and a run the the Nitto ATP Finals title match, where Djokovic ruled the day.

 

In the bottom half, second seed and 2021 champion Andrey Rublev opens against a qualifier. He could play 2022 titlist Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round and Alex de Minaur in the quarter-finals. Fifth-seeded Australian de Minaur opens against Sebastian Korda.

Holger Rune, a potential semi-final opponent for Rublev, holds a 7-2 record on the season and will look to win his fifth tour-level title at the ATP 500 indoor hard event. The third-seeded Dane plays Roman Safiullin in the first round and is seeded to play Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals in a Lexus ATP Head2Head rematch from their recent Brisbane final, a clash the Bulgarian won.

There are three Dutchmen in the draw, excluding qualifiers. Wild card Jesper de Jong plays former World No. 3 Milos Raonic, while Tallon Griekspoor takes on Lorenzo Musetti.