Vienna Open draw: Nightmare half for Dominic Thiem; Novak Djokovic could face Stefanos Tsitsipas in semis

ATP Tour
Dominic Thiem preparing to serve

Defending champion Dominic Thiem has landed in a difficult half at the Vienna Open as he will face Kei Nishikori first up followed by a possible second-round encounter against Stan Wawrinka with Daniil Medvedev a likely semi-final opponent.

US Open champion Thiem, who beat Diego Schwartzman in last year’s final to lift his home title, is seeded second for the tournament and finds himself in the bottom half of the indoor hard-court event.

If Thiem comes through his opener against former US Open runner-up Nishikori then he could take on three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka, who opens up his campaign against Cristian Garin, in the second round.

The winner could face either up and coming young gun Jannik Sinner or fifth seed Andrey Rublev in the quarter-final before one of Medvedev, Gael Monfils, Felix Auger-Aliassime or Kevin Anderson await in the semi-final.

World No 1 Novak Djokovic will be the man to beat in the top half after he accepted a wildcard entry into the ATP 500 event.

The 17-time Grand Slam winner will take on fellow Serbian Filip Krajinovic in his opener while he will face either Borna Coric or Taylor Fritz in the second round.

Last year’s runner-up Schwartzman is likely to be a quarter-final opponent with third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and eighth seed Denis Shapovalov likely to be his semi-final opponent.

British No 1 Dan Evans, fresh from a semi-final appearance at the European Open, faces a qualifier first up with Shapovalov a possible second-round opponent.

Follow us on Twitter @T365Official and like our Facebook page.

Dominic Thiem Novak Djokovic

Latest