Top seed Stan Wawrinka will start his Australian campaign against either Juan Ignacio Londero or Mikhail Kukushkin in his first match of the 2021 season at the Murray River Open in Melbourne. The three-time Grand Slam champion could meet Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who leads 2-1 in his three head-to-head matches against his Swiss rival.
The top quarter of the draw also features 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic and sixth seed Taylor Fritz.
Cilic will face Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in one of the most interesting first-round matches. Cilic leads 4-2 in his six head-to-head matches against Chardy.
Felix Auger Aliassime will play against either Quentin Halys or Yuichi Sugita. The Canadian Next Gen player is on collision course with Norwegian rising star Casper Ruud, who reached the semifinals at the Rome Masters 1000 tournament last year.
Former Roland Garros semifinalist Marco Cecchinato has been drawn against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, who reached the fourth round at the Australian Open last year. Fucsovics leads 2-1 in his three head-to-head clashes with Cecchinato.
Former ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov will be looking to avenge his defeat in Melbourne Park against US Tommy Paul, who beat the Bulgarian player at the Australian Open in five sets after 4 hours and 19 minutes.
Fourth seed Borna Coric will face either Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori or Viktor Troicki.
Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic have never player at ATP Tour level but they could face off for the first time in their careers in the second round in Melbourne next week, if they get through the opening match.
Kyrgios, who has not played a match on the ATP Tour since Acapulco, will make his debut against Alexandre Muller. Tomic will take on Marco Polmans.
Corentin Moutet will square off against US Frances Tiafoe. Adrian Mannarino will meet Swede Mikael Ymer. Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis will clash his compatriot Alex Bolt.
Last year’s Vienna finalist Lorenzo Sonego will start his campaign against Australian wild-card Jason Kubler.
The potential quarter finals could be Wawrinka vs Fritz, Coric vs Evans in the top half of the draw and Dimitrov vs Ugo Humbert and Auger Aliassime vs Ruud in the bottom half.
