Last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals champion Jannik Sinner headlines the qualifying round at the Western and Southern Open in New York, the first ATP Masters 1000 tournament since the covid-19 pandemic.
Sinner will make his first appearance in a hard-court Masters 1000 tournament. The Italian player coached by Riccardo Piatti will face his compatriot Salvatore Caruso in the first qualifying round. Sinner beat Caruso in three sets in their previous head-to-head clash at the ATP Challenger in Bergamo last year en route to winning the title. The winner of the all-Italian clash will clash against either Jordan Thompson or Michael Mmoh.
Frenchman Gilles Simon will face Japan’s Taro Daniel. Simon is the top seed in the qualifying round and is aiming to reach the Western and Southern Open main draw for the 12th time.
Finland’s Emil Rusuvuori, who is aiming at breaking the world number 100 spot for the first time in his career, will face France’s Jeremy Chardy.
World number 220 Brandon Nakashima is another Next Gen star, who will play in the Western and Southern Open qualifying round. The young US player made his ATP Tour level at this year’s Delray Beach ATP Tournament, where he reached the quarter finals. He also reached the semifinals at the Indian Wells Challenger.
Sweden’s number 10 seed Mikael Ymer will face 2018 Milan Next Gen alternate Lloyd Harris from South Africa.
Jaume Munar from Spain will take on 17th seed Federico Delbonis from Argentina.
Sebastian Korda, the son of Petr Korda, will meet Attila Balazs.
Italian veteran Andreas Seppi will take on Soonwoo Kwon. Gianluca Mager, who reached his first final in Rio de Janeiro, is set to face Andrej Martin.
