The draw for the upcoming
Belgrade Open has been made, which
will feature some of the top players. The tournament will be played from 02 to 09
November in Belgrade, Serbia where some of the big-name players in men’s tennis
in the singles category will participate to showcase their talent and secure
the ultimate prize.
Tournament’s top-seed Australia’s
Alex de Minaur has been
given a pass, and he will face the winner of the match between local favourite Laslo
Djere and Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka. Interestingly, both players have been
given a wild card to participate in the competition. The competition is an important
one for the 25-year-old as recently, he admitted that he was playing through
pain in the Paris Masters to keep himself alive to secure a place in the ATP
Finals in November.
As things stand, the Sydney-born is currently ranked eighth
in the updated ATP Rankings. He recently lost to Denmark’s Holger Rune in the
quarterfinal of the Paris Masters with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Argentina’s Francisco
Cerundolo, who will be the second-seed play in the competition after the withdrawal
of America’s Tommy Paul, will face the winner of the match between Russia’s Roman
Safiullin and Italy’s Fabio Fognini.
Former world number three and US Open 2014 winner Croatia’s Marin
Cilic will face France’s
Alexandre Muller. Portugal’s Nuno Borges, who is having an impressive season,
will face Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic. The competition has an interesting history.
It was classified as an ATP 250 event from 2009 to 2012. It regained its status
back for two years in 2021 and 2022. The first-ever Belgrade Open was won by
the former world number one Serbia’s Novak Djokovic. He defeated Lukasz Kubot
in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 7-6. Russia’s Andrey Rublev
won the 2022 edition. He got the better of Djokovic in the final with a score
of 6-2, 6-7, 6-0.