Down Under Action Continues: After a busy opening week of the 2017 season with nine of the Top 10 in action, 10 of the Top 30 (as of 2 January Emirates ATP Rankings) are playing this week, with No. 8 Dominic Thiem the top seed in Sydney and Chennai champion Roberto Bautista Agut leading the field in Auckland.
Apia International Sydney (Sydney, Australia): The youngest player in the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, 23-year-old Thiem, is the top seed and making his second straight appearance in Sydney. The other seeds are: No. 2 Pablo Cuevas, No. 3/two-time reigning champion Viktor Troicki, No. 4 Pablo Carreno Busta, No. 5 Philipp Kohlschreiber, No. 6 Gilles Muller, No. 7 Martin Klizan and No. 8 Marcel Granollers. Troicki is the lone former winner in the draw.
Thiem Top Seed: Thiem is the top seed on the ATP World Tour for the sixth time in his career. Last season he was the top seed four times with a repeat title in Nice and runner-up showing in Metz. Overall Thiem won a personal-best four ATP World Tour titles in six finals and he played in the most tournaments (27) and the second-most (behind Murray, 87) matches (82) of any player in the Top 10 last season. He won a career-high 58 matches.
Defending Champion: Troicki comes in as the reigning two-time champion and the No. 2 Serbian owns a 14-3 career record in Sydney. He was also runner-up in 2011. He enters with a nine-match main draw win streak in Sydney (12 overall with qualifying). Last year he defended his title by getting past Grigor Dimitrov in a third set tie-break, saving one match point. Two years ago, ranked No. 92, he qualified into the main draw and defeated fellow qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin in the final.
Aussies in the Draw: There are three Aussies in the main draw (not including possible two qualifiers). The trio are wild cards Alex De Minaur, Thanasi Kokkinakis, who is a member of the #NextGenATP group after finishing 2015 a year-end best No. 80, and Jordan Thompson, who is coming off his first career ATP World Tour quarter-final in Brisbane. Kokkinakis and Thompson, who meet in the first round, are coming off a doubles title win in Brisbane. Kokkinakis, who had right shoulder surgery on 29 December 2015, is making his debut in Sydney. The 17-year-old De Minaur qualified into his first ATP World Tour main draw in Brisbane (l. to M. Zverev in 1R). He was runner-up at Wimbledon juniors and reached No. 2 in the world in the junior rankings last season.
Mischa Eyes Top 50 Return: Mischa Zverev finished at a year-end best No. 51 last season and the 29-year-old German is making his main draw debut in Sydney after losing in qualifying in 2007-08 and 2010. Zverev last ranked in the Top 50 on 5 October 2009 at No. 48. He reached a career-high No. 45 on 8 June 2009.
Gilles Going Strong: No. 6 seed Gilles Muller, age of 33, finished a year-end best No. 34 last season, highlighted by two ATP World Tour finals and four semi-finals, including Sydney for the second straight year. He has a 6-3 career record in Sydney. Muller, who is 0-5 in ATP World Tour finals, is the highest-ranked player in the Top 50 yet to win a singles title.
Murray/Soares Lead Doubles Draw: The top seeds are defending champions and World No. 1 Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who won three titles in five finals. The other seeds are No. 2 Marcel Granollers & Marc Lopez, No. 3 Lukasz Kubot & Marcelo Melo and No. 4 Jean-Julien Rojer & Horia Tecau.
ASB Classic (Auckland, New Zealand): There are six Top 30 players in this year’s ASB Classic, led by World No. 14 and defending champion Roberto Bautista Agut. The other seeds are: No. 2 John Isner, No. 3 David Ferrer, No. 4 Jack Sock, No. 5 Albert Ramos-Vinolas, No. 6 Feliciano Lopez, No. 7 Steve Johnson and No. 8 Marcos Baghdatis. There are four former champions in the field who have won the past seven titles (eight of past 10). They are Bautista Agut, Jiri Vesely (2015), Ferrer, a four-time champion (2007, 2011-13) and Isner, a two-time winner (2010, ’14).
Top Seed/Defending Champion: Defending champion Bautista Agut is the top seed in an ATP World Tour tournament for the third time in his career. He is fresh off a title win at the Aircel Chennai Open (d. Medvedev). Last season the 28-year-old Spaniard was the No. 1 seed in Sofia where he won the title and later in the year in Moscow where he lost in the second round (after a bye). Last season he finished a year-end best No. 14 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and won two titles in three finals. This is the Spaniard’s fourth straight appearance in Auckland (8-2 record). In his title run last year, Bautista Agut beat No. 11 Isner in the quarter-final, No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-final (after saving match point) and Sock (ret.) in the final. He is trying to become the first back-to-back winner since Ferrer won three in a row from 2011-13.
Four-Time Champion Returns: Ferrer is making his 11th appearance in the past 12 years (withdrew in 2015). The 34-year-old Spaniard owns the most Auckland titles in the Open Era along with a 28-7 record, winning titles in 2007, 2011-13. In his past five appearances (since 2011) he has compiled a 16-2 record after going 12-5 in his first six showings. He put together a 14-match winning streak with three straight titles (2011-13) before falling in the semi-finals to Yen-Hsun Lu in 2014. Last season Ferrer finished out of the Top 20 (at No. 21) for the first time since 2004 and his title streak of six years in a row also came to an end.
Big John is Back: Isner is making his sixth Auckland visit since 2009. The 31-year-old American has a 13-3 record, winning titles in 2010 and 2014 and reaching the quarter-finals three other times (2009, 2011, 2016). Isner closed last season by reaching the final at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris (l. to Murray) to finish in the Top 20 for the seventh straight season and as the top American for the fifth year in a row. He led the ATP World Tour in aces (1,159) for the fourth time since 2010.
Sock Eyes Top 20: Last year’s runner-up Jack Sock is making his third straight Auckland appearance (6-2 record). The 24-year-old American finished a year-end best No. 23 last season, his sixth straight ranking improvement. Along with Auckland, he was runner-up in Houston and Stockholm.
#NextGenATP Watch: Karen Khachanov is making his Auckland debut. Last season the 20 year old finished a year-end best No. 53, highlighted by his maiden ATP World Tour title in Chengdu.
Kiwis in the Draw: There are two local wild cards in the main draw: Artem Sitak, who is making his singles main draw debut, and Michael Venus, who reached the second round two years ago. Sitak is ranked No. 62 in doubles and his best doubles result is a semi-final showing last season. Venus is the reigning doubles champion and he is coming off his best season on the ATP World Tour, having won four titles and reached five other finals. He is ranked a career-high No. 32 in doubles.
Huey/Mirnyi Top Seeds: The top seeds in the doubles draw are Treat Huey & Max Mirnyi, who finished No. 8 last season in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings. The other seeds are No. 2 Dominic Inglot & Florin Mergea, No. 3 Robert Lindstedt & Michael Venus and No. 4 Marcin Matkowski & Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.
ICYMI
Novak Djokovic took the first battle of the 2017 ATP World Tour season against Andy Murray, beating the Scot 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 to defend his Qatar ExxonMobil Open title and exact revenge on the World No. 1. Read
Grigor Dimitrov snapped a two-and-a-half year title drought at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, defeating third seed Kei Nishikori 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in the final. Read
Roberto Bautista Agut added a fifth ATP World Tour title to his trophy cabinet, beating 20-year-old Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 in the Aircel Chennai Open final. Read
Birthdays
10 January – Michael Mmoh (19)
12 January – Paul-Henri Mathieu (35)
14 January – Ruben Bemelmans (29)