Dan Evans gets top-seeding and first round bye in San Diego

Dan Evans

Dan Evans will have some time to make his way from Glasgow to America’s Finest City where he will be the top seed for the second edition of the San Diego Open.

Evans is the top-ranked player in the field as the World no 22 with the 28-man field devoid of really big names.

The tournament holds intrigue nonetheless, particularly for those interested in the future of US tennis with a handful of promising young Americans set to line up.

Evans and the other top four seeds will enjoy a bye into the Round of 16.

Taro Daniel or a qualifier will take on Evans in the second round.

The American contingent is lead by second seed Jenson Brooksby who will face either compatriot Mackenzie McDonald or Swiss Henri Laaksonen in the last 16.

Californian Marcos Giron carries the No 3 seeding in San Diego and will be targeting an improvement to his 12-24 match record in 2022.

Giron will take on either Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry or a qualifier in the second round.

Spain’s Pedro Martinez completes the quartet of top seeds and will face either Daniel Elahi Galan, who stunned Stefanos Tsitsipas at the US Open, or Switzerland’s Marc-Andrea Huesler.

After his massive US Open win over Taylor Fritz, son of former World No 1 Tracy Austin, Brandon Holt has been handed a wildcard for the San Diego Open and will take on French journeyman Constant Lestienne in the first round.

Another home hope in Steve Johnson will open his tournament against sixth-seeded Chilean Alejandro Tabilo; they are bracketed on a course that would see them face Evans in the last eight if the winner of the contest overcomes the victor of the Holt/Lestienne clash.

One of the highlights of the first round is an all-Aussie battle between Alexei Popyrin and seventh seed James Duckworth.

That match is one of two all-Australian first round matches with Christopher O’Connell also meeting compatriot Jason Kubler.

The winner of the match between O’Connell and Kubler will progress to face the man who comes out on top when eighth-seeded American J.J. Wolf battles countryman Stefan Kozlov.

There will be another all-American first round match as Brandon Nakashima takes on wildcard Zachary Svajda who is set to make his ATP Tour debut at the Barnes Tennis Center.

Former World No 7 Fernando Verdasco receives the final wildcard spot in the main draw and has a first round date with Ukraine-born American Denis Kudla.

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