A lone Top 100 name features in a Challenger draw that is very much concerned with ranking improvements ahead of the Australian Open in January 2017. Taylor Fritz is perhaps the only name in the draw who can feel secure in the knowledge that he will feature in the Australian Open for certain as others look to push their claims to reach the main draw or even the qualifying draw.
Fritz starts with Ohio state Danish Davis Cup Player Mikael Torpegaard, who will look to win on home soil again after he beat Benjamin Becker in the first Challenger tournament held in Columbus earlier this year. With a ranking that belies the threat he could pose to Fritz given his win earlier this season, this could be the match of the round.
With his ranking down at No.146, it is unlikely that Stefan Kozlov will be able to move up sharply enough to make the main draw of the Australian Open. That being said, Kozlov still has a lot to play for. This draw is surprisingly devoid of Top 100 ranked players (Fritz being the only exception). Kozlov can thus look forward to solidifying a good ranking to put himself as high in seeding as possible for the qualifying tournament in Melbourne. He starts against Jose Statham and is potentially Taylor Fritz’s semi-final opponent.
Rajeev Ram (2rd seed) and Henri Laaksonen (3rd seed), fresh off defending his Champaign challenger, will have similar aspirations. They are seeded to meet in the semi-finals though Tennys Sandgren and Mitchell Krueger, both of whom have work to do to secure their places in the qualifying tournament as things stand, could be potential problems. Austin Krajicek has even more need for a good tournament. Currently outside the Top 250 he needs to look at least getting through to the quarter-finals if he is to move up sufficiently. There are no events next week.
Prediction for the title: Taylor Fritz is the biggest name and it is very hard to look past him as winner. If there was to be a surprise victor I might suggest Tennys Sandgren who has had a good recent run, and with the out-of-form Rajeev Ram as the highest seed in his section could well fancy his chances this week.
