Casper Ruud handed tough opening assignment by Hamburg draw

James Richardson 22 Jul 2023 1:56 PM

Casper Ruud turns out on clay

Casper Ruud has been handed a tricky first opponent despite his top seeding for the Hamburg European Open.

Ruud will face unseeded Argentine Sebastian Baez first up but getting beyond a player as handy on clay as Baez first up could be tough.

Should Ruud banish Baez and gain the Round of 16 he will face either Hugo Dellien, who enters with a protected ranking, or a qualifier.

Ruud is seeded to meet Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in the last eight.

Eigth-seeded Kecmanovic will need to come through an all-Serbian battle with Dusan Lajovic first up and then best either Arthur Fils or a qualifier to reach the last eight.

Home player Alexander Zverev headlines the lower portion of the top half of the draw as the fourth seed.

Zverev takes on Slovakia’s Alex Molcan in the opening round amidst fresh controversy after another assault accusation was levelled at him last week.

The winner of that contest will go on to meet one of two German wildcards who meet in the first round in Maximilian Marterer and Rudolf Molleker.

Pedro Cachin is the drawn first round opponent for seventh seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina but comes into the tournament off the back of a great run in Gstaad.

Cachin or Davidovich Fokina will advance to face the winner of the French face off between Luca Van Assche and Alexandre Muller.

Argentina are well represented on the clay in Hamburg with Tomas Martin Etcheverry seeded sixth and set to face Laslo Djere of Serbia in his opening contest.

Etcheverry could face compatriot Guido Pella in the second round if Pella can find a way to best Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori.

Defending champion Lorenzo Musetti is on a quarter-final collision course with Etcheverry and starts his defence against a qualifier as he carries the third seeding.

Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp and Peru’s Juan Pablo Varillas will go head-to-head to determine who Musetti or the qualifier faces in the second round.

Second seed Andrey Rublev anchors the draw and will face Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles in his first match of the tournament.

The winner of that contest will be the opponent for the victor of the first rounder between home hope Daniel Altmaier and French veteran Richard Gasquet.