The Aegon Open in Nottingham hosts some of the world’s top male tennis players for the last time as the ATP 250 Wimbledon warm-up event moves back to Eastbourne next year. The ATP tournament is going out in style, with a field of 12 of the world’s top 50 players, headed by world number 20 Kevin Anderson.
Anderson is joined by last year’s champion Denis Istomin, Marcos Baghdatis, a semifinalist last year, Fernando Verdasco, who stunned Stanislas Wawrinka at the Aegon Championships last Tuesday, and the world number 26 Pablo Cuevas. The seeded players all receive byes into the second round in this 48 player field, with Anderson to open up against the winner of the match between Julien Benneteau and Ivan Dodig.
Seeded Players
1. Kevin Anderson
2. Pablo Cuevas
3. Joao Sousa
4. Alexandr Dolgopolov
5. Sam Querrey
6. Steve Johnson
7. Andreas Seppi
8. Gilles Muller
9. Marcos Baghdatis
10. Pablo Carreno Busta
11. Vasek Pospisil
12. Paolo Lorenzi
13. Guido Pella
14. Fernando Verdasco
15. Mikhail Kukushkin
16. Ricardas Berankis
The Draw
Notable first round matches include Istomin opening his title defence against the Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, with the winner to face eleventh seed Pospisil. American young gun Taylor Fritz faces a tough test against Adrian Mannarino and his compatriot Denis Kudla faces Russia's Evgeny Donskoy.
The home hopes are also in action as six Brits are set to compete in the first round. Queen’s Club quarterfinalist Kyle Edmund opens his campaign against world number 73 Lukas Rosol, while there is also an enticing all British clash as Dan Evans prepares to face wildcard Liam Broady. Another wildcard, James Ward, faces Malek Jaziri in round one, while the other two Brits Alexander Ward and Brydan Klein will both face qualifiers.
Qualifying
Qualifying gets underway today, featuring top seed Stephane Robert against British wildcard Ryan James Storrie and second seed Sam Groth faces the German Frank Moser. American player, Ernesto Escobedo completes Court One’s opening day’s play as he faces Australian Bradley Mousley.
You can follow all the action from the qualifying and the main draw matches at the Aegon Open in Nottingham this week right here on VAVEL USA.