Scouting Report: Wawrinka To Carry Home Hopes In Basel

Oct 23, 2016

London Home Stretch: The final multiple tournament week of the season on the ATP World Tour takes place with the Swiss Indoors in Basel and the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna. There are 500 ranking points at stake to the winner in both tournaments. There are three spots available for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (13-20 November) and 14 of the Top 20 in the Emirates ATP Race to London are in action. World No. 2 Andy Murray, who is trying to overtake World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, is the top seed in Vienna. No. 3 Stan Wawrinka leads the field in Basel.

Emirates ATP Race to London Update: There are 14 of the Top 20 players in the Emirates ATP Race to London competing in either Basel or Vienna. Eight players in the Top 20 Emirates ATP Race to London are in pursuit of Tomas Berdych, who holds the eighth and final spot for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Berdych leads David Goffin by 220 points. Here is a look at the updated Race standings with players entered in Basel and Vienna:

Position	Player	Points
1	Novak Djokovic *	10,600
2	Andy Murray * - Vienna	9,685
3	Stan Wawrinka * - Basel	5,060
4	Milos Raonic * - Basel	4,690
5	Kei Nishikori * - Basel	4,360
6	Gael Monfils	3,625
7	Rafael Nadal– Finished 2016	3,300
8	Dominic Thiem – Vienna	3,205
9	Tomas Berdych – Vienna	2,880
10	David Goffin – Basel	2,660
11	Marin Cilic – Basel	2,590
12	Nick Kyrgios – Finished 2016	2,460
13	Roberto Bautista Agut – Vienna	2,340
14	Roger Federer - Finished 2016	2,130
15	Lucas Pouille – Vienna	2,106
16	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - Vienna	2,070
17	Grigor Dimitrov – Basel	1,945
18	Richard Gasquet - Basel	1,695
19	Pablo Cuevas – Vienna	1,690
20	Alexander Zverev	1,655

* Qualified for Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (3 spots remain)

Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel): Eight of the Top 25 in the Emirates ATP Rankings are featured in Basel, led by top Swiss and World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka. The other seeds are: No. 2 Milos Raonic, No. 3 Kei Nishikori, No. 4 Marin Cilic, No. 5 David Goffin, No. 6 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 7 Richard Gasquet and No. 8 Jack Sock. The only former champion in the draw is 2012-13 winner Juan Martin del Potro, who is coming off his first title in 33 months in Stockholm. Basel native and seven-time champion Roger Federer will not be in the draw for the first time since 2005 due to a knee injury. Federer has a 61-9 career record in Basel.

Stan the Man: Wawrinka comes in as the top seed in Basel for the first time in his 13th appearance (9-12 record). The 31-year-old Swiss native is 4-1 in finals this season, winning his third Grand Slam crown at the US Open. He comes in with a 43-14 match record on the season. He has qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London for the third straight year. Wawrinka’s best results in Basel came in 2006 and ’11 when he advanced to the semi-finals. He is looking to break a four-match first-round losing streak in Basel. He opens against wild card/countryman Marco Chiudinelli, who reached the semi-finals in 2009.

DelPo Makes Return: Wild card Juan Martin del Potro is playing in Basel for the first time since winning the title in 2013. He also captured the title the previous year (d. Federer both times). He has a 10-match Basel winning streak and 16-3 career record. In Stockholm, the 28-year-old Argentine earned his first ATP World Tour title since January 2014 in Sydney. This season he has compiled a 28-11 match record and he is projected to break the Top 50 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday for the first time since 20 October, 2014 (at No. 29). He ranked as low as No. 1,045 on 8 February. This summer he reached the quarter-finals at the US Open (l. to eventual champ Wawrinka) and earned a silver medal at the Rio Olympics (d. No. 1 Djokovic in 1R, No. 5 Nadal in SF, l. to Murray). He also helped his country to the Davis Cup final by beating No. 2 Murray in five sets in the semi-finals.

Goffin Aims For London: Goffin is not only looking to become the first Belgian to reach the Top 10 in the history of the Emirates ATP Rankings (since Aug. 23, 1973) but also become the first Belgian to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. He is No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Race to London, 220 points Tomas Berdych, who holds the eighth and final position. The 25-year-old from Liege has not won an ATP World Tour title this season, but has reached the final at the 500 level event in Tokyo (l. to Kyrgios) and advanced to the semi-finals at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami. He is coming off a semi-final on home soil in Antwerp (l. to Schwartzman). He has won a personal-best 47 matches this season.

Cilic Looks to Rally: Marin Cilic is 290 points behind Berdych, who holds the final spot in the Emirates ATP Race to London. Cilic is a two-time quarter-finalist (2009, 2015) in Basel. Two years ago Cilic qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and he went 0-3 in round robin play.

Top 10 Doubles Teams: Five of the Top 10 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings (as of Oct. 17) are in the draw, led by top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, who are the No. 9 team in the Emirates ATP Race to London. The other Top 10 ranked teams in Basel are: No. 6 Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, No. 7 Henri Kontinen and John Peers, No. 8 Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, and No. 10 Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who won the Moscow title on Sunday.

Erste Bank Open 500 (Vienna): This is the second year Vienna is a 500 level tournament on the ATP World Tour. It is one of two Austrian events (Kitzbuehel) on the ATP World Tour and this year’s field is led by top seed and World No. 2 Andy Murray, who captured the title in his only previous appearance two years ago (d. Ferrer). The other seeds are: No. 2 Tomas Berdych, No. 3 /top Austrian Dominic Thiem, No. 4 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 5 /reigning champion David Ferrer, No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 7 Lucas Pouille and No. 8 Ivo Karlovic. In addition to Murray and Ferrer, there are three other former winners in the field: Tsonga (2011), Jurgen Melzer (2009-10) and Feliciano Lopez (2004).

Murray on a Roll: Murray comes into Vienna on a 10-match winning streak after winning back-to-back titles in Beijing and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai. During the streak Murray has won all 20 sets played. Two years ago, Murray made his debut in Vienna as a wild card and ranked No. 11. He won the title (d. Ferrer) and went on to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Now, Murray is trying to surpass Djokovic and become No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time. Murray trails Djokovic by 915 points in the Emirates ATP Race to London. The 29-year-old Brit enters with a 65-9 match record on the season (35-6 on hard) and a 6-4 record in finals. His six titles is the most since 2009. He began the first four months of the year with a 13-4 match record and since May he has compiled a 52-5 mark, including a career-best 22-match winning streak. He’s also won titles at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome, London/Queen’s Club, Wimbledon and a second Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro. Along the way, he reached a personal-best seven finals in a row and the streak ended with a QF loss to Nishikori at the US Open.

Reigning Champion: Ferrer comes in as the defending champion. The 34-year-old Spaniard has 26 career ATP World Tour titles, the last coming in Vienna last year (d. Johnson). Ferrer, who lost in the first round in his first two years (2003-04) in Vienna, has reached the final the past two years. He was runner-up in 2014 (l. to Murray) before capturing the title last year. His title streak of at least one title every season since 2010 is on the line. This year his best result is five semi-finals. The last time he did not reach an ATP World Tour final in a season came in 2004. Ferrer’s streak of six consecutive Top 10 finishes is also at stake. Last week he was No. 20 in the Emirates ATP Race to London.

Dominic Eyes London: Thiem is attempting to qualify for his first Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. The 23-year-old Austrian is No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Race to London. Thiem enters with a 56-20 match record on the season and four ATP World Tour titles in six finals. He is making his sixth straight main draw showing in Vienna (4-5 record) and his best result is the quarter-finals in 2013.

Top Austrians Meet: The top two Austrians in the Emirates ATP Rankings square off in the first round as Thiem takes on wild card Gerald Melzer, who is putting together his best pro season in 2016. The 26-year-old Austrian No. 2 reached a career-high No. 71 in the Emirates ATP Rankings last week (Oct. 17). In July, Melzer advanced to his maiden ATP World Tour semi-final on home soil in Kitzbuehel (l. to eventual champion Lorenzi). He has compiled a 44-16 match record with four titles on the ATP Challenger Tour.

Melzer Back Home: Local resident and two-time champion (2009-10) Jurgen Melzer is playing in Vienna for the 15th year. The 35-year-old Melzer has a 21-12 career record in Vienna. His best result this season is a quarter-final in Kitzbuehel where he beat Thiem along the way. This past week he joined Radek Stepanek as the only active players on the ATP World Tour with at least 300 career singles and doubles match wins. He and countryman Julian Knowle lost in Sunday’s doubles final in Moscow.

#NextGen Stars: Two of the ATP World Tour’s #NextGen stars are making their Vienna debut, 21-year-old Kyle Edmund and 20-year-old Russian wild card Karen Khachanov. Both players will finish with their best year-end Emirates ATP Ranking. Earlier this month, Khachanov became the ninth first-time winner on the ATP World Tour in 2016 as he captured his maiden crown in Chengdu (d. Ramos-Vinolas). He jumped from No. 101 to a career-high No. 55 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Oct. 3. Edmund comes into Vienna after reaching his first ATP World Tour semi-final in Antwerp (l. to Gasquet). He has climbed to a career-best ranking of No. 43 last week.

Aces Leaders in Draw: The top two aces leaders in this year’s Infosys ATP Scores & Stats are Ivo Karlovic and John Isner. Karlovic hit 28 aces en route to the quarter-finals in Stockholm and he surpassed 1,000 aces this season (1,003). Isner has 997 aces this season. Since 2007, Karlovic has led the ATP World Tour in aces five times (2007-09, ’14-15) and Isner three times (2010, ’12-13).

Bryans Eye 1000th Win: No. 2 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan are two match wins away from becoming the first team in the Open Era to register 1,000 career wins. The Bryans are No. 3 in the Emirates ATP Race to London and they already have qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. The Bryans, who have captured a record 112 career titles together, have a 998-309 match record. This is their third appearance in Vienna, the first since 2011 when they captured the title.

Top 4 Doubles Teams: Three of the Top 4 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings are in the draw, led by top seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who are the No. 2 team (behind Herbert & Mahut). The other top teams are: No. 3 Bryan/Bryan and No. 4 Feliciano Lopez & Marc Lopez.

In Case You Missed It

Juan Martin del Potro ended a 33-month title drought by winning Stockholm. Read

Richard Gasquet won the inaugural European Open in Antwerp. Read

Pablo Carreno Busta added to a career year by winning Moscow. Read

Swedish teens Elias Ymer and Mikael Ymer teamed for a surprise win at their home event. Read

Andy Murray, Dominic Thiem and other ATP World Tour stars helped launch the Vienna tournament. Read

Milestones

Basel Singles

Kei Nishikori – 295 wins

Donald Young – 96 wins

Basel Doubles

Raven Klaasen – 147 wins