The Houston Open is the only ATP Tour level clay court tournament in the USA.
The top seed of the Houston ATP 250 tournament is Ben Shelton, the US third-ranked player. Shelton reached the fourth round in Indian Wells and the third round in Miami. The 21-year-old US player, who a first round bye, will face the winner of the match between Belgium’s Zizou Bergs and a qualifier.
Frances Tiafoe did not drop a set en route to his third ATP title of his career in Houston last year. Tiafoe has only won consecutive matches at Delray Beach. The US player will face Australia’s James Duckworth or a qualifier.
Denis Shapovalov, who received a wild card, will take on Marcos Giron. The winner of this match will play against J.J Wolf or a qualifier.
Francisco Cerundolo will play against the winner of the match between Denis Kudla and Luciano Darderi. Cerundolo achieved his best result of the year in Rio de Janeiro, where he advanced to the semifinals.
Tomas Martin Etcheverry will start his campaign against either Benoit Paire or Daniel Elahi Galan. The Argentine player reached the final in Houston last year.
Eighth seed Max Purcell will take on Alex Michelsen.
There are ten US players in the draw. Fifth-seed Christopher Eubanks will face Rinki Hijikata in the first round. Eubanks, who reached the quarter final at Wimbledon last year, is aiming to win his second tour-level win on clay.
Sixth-seed Jordan Thompson will face the winner of the match between Thanasi Kokkinakis and Aleksandar Kovacic.
Italy’s Luciano Darderi, who won his first ATP title in Cordoba last February, will face wild card Denis Kudla.
The main draw of the Houston tournament also features Marcos Giron, Brandon Nakashima and wild cards Michael Mmoh.
Austin Kraijcek and Rajeev Ram lead the main draw of the doubles tournament as the top seeds. They won the title in Moscow in 2018 the last time they teamed at an ATP Tour event.
Ruud defends his title in Estoril
Casper Ruud is the top seed at the Millenn Estoril Open. Ruud has a first-round bye as the top seed. The Norwegian player will face either Botic Van de Zandschulp or Federico Coria and is seeded to play against Gael Monfils in the quarter finals. Monfils will start his campaign against local player Henrique Rocha.
Hubert Hurkacz has a first round bye and will face Brazilian Next star Joao Fonseca, who is currently sixth in the ATP Live Race to the Next Gen Finals in Jeddah. Fonseca reached his first quarter final on the ATP Tour in Rio de Janeiro last February.
Another Next Gen player in the field is Frenchman Arthur Fils, who won his first ATP Tour title on clay in Lyon.
Lorenzo Musetti is seeking his first title since Naples in 2022. Musetti beat Ben Shelton in Miami in his first match since the birth of his son Ludovico on 15 March. The Italian player then lost to world number 3 Carlos Alcaraz in the Round of 16 in Miami. Musetti will face against in-form Nuno Borges, who reached the fourth round in a Grand Slam tournament for the first round at the Australian Open and beat Matteo Berrettini in the final of the ATP Challenger in Phoenix.
Dominic Thiem will face Maximilian Marterer in the first round. The winner of this match will clash against sixth-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Sander Gille and Joran Villegen will defend their title in the doubles tournament. The second seeds are Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul.
