ATP Swiss Indoors draw: Holger Rune gets tough opener and possible early clash with Andy Murray
Holger Rune will face a familiar foe in the opening round of the Swiss Indoors as it will be the same player who sent him packing from the Stockholm Open this week.
With Carlos Alcaraz withdrawing from the ATP 500 event due to injury, Rune has assumed the duties as the top seed, but the current world No 6 has not received the kindest of draws.
Barely a week after he was beaten by Miomir Kecmanovic straight sets in the first round in Sweden, Rune will have another crack at the Serbian in Switzerland.
Kecmanovic went on to reach the semi-final of the Stockholm Open following his win over the Dane as he went down against Pavel Kotov on Saturday.
Rune has also been in poor form in recent months as he has won only one match since reaching the quarter-final at Wimbledon. He recently added tennis great Boris Becker to his coaching team in an attempt to turn things around.
READ MORE: Boris Becker banned from Wimbledon despite big coaching return with Holger Rune
If the 20-year-old gets through the Kecmanovic clash then he will potentially face world No 28 Sebastian Baez in the second round while Andy Murray could await in the quarter-final.
Murray himself has struggled in recent months as he won just one match in three tournaments during the Asian swing. The former world No 1 faces Yannick Hanfmann in his opener while he is projected to face eighth seed Sebastian Korda – who is up against Tomas Etcheverry in the first round – in the round of 16.
Taylor Fritz props up the bottom bracket of the top half of the draw and the third seed, who was stunned by Shintaro Mochizuki at the Japan Open, faces Max Purcell in his opener while he could face Stan Wawrinka in the second round and defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-final.
Casper Ruud, another early casualty at the Japan Open this week, headlines the bottom half of the draw and the Norwegian faces Alexander Bublik in round one. Bublik has enjoyed a good run in Antwerp as he will play in the final of the European Open on Sunday.
The second seed is projected to meet seventh seed Nicolas Jarry in the quarter-final while a clash with fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz will be on the cards in the semi-final if the seedings hold. Hurkacz faces Dusan Lajovic first up while he could take on fifth seed Alex de Minaur in the last eight.
Rune, Fritz, Ruud and Hurkacz are all still in the running for ATP Finals places with the Dane currently occupying the final position and Fritz, Ruud and Rune just outside the top eight.
