ATP Washington: Tsitsipas, Khachanov, Medvedev, Anderson lead packed field
Staged at the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center, the Citi Open in Washington began back in 1969 on Arthur Ashe's initiative, joining the Open era a year later and staying in the calendar ever since. It has always gathered a strong field of players and gained the status of one of the most important events in the United States. Until 1986, the surface was green Har-Tru clay before the tournament switched to hard courts to follow the other big events during North American swing. Ken Rosewall, Tony Roche, Arthur Ashe, Guillermo Vilas, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Andre Agassi, Stefan Edberg, Michael Chang, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Martin del Potro, Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori have all won title here in the past, with Agassi standing as the most prominent star with five crowns in the capital between 1990-1999.
Two-time defending champion Alexander Zverev will not seek the third straight title, leaving Stefanos Tsitsipas as the top seed. The Greek will face Denis Kudla or Tommy Paul in the second round before thew potential clashes against Jack Sock, Jordan Thompson or Jan-Lennard Struff in the battle for the quarter-final where he should face the 5th seed John Isner who lost early in Atlanta. In the second quarter, Kevin Anderson and David Goffin are the players to beat, with Adrian Mannarino, Miomir Kecmanovic, Alexei Popyrin, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Gilles Simon and Nick Kyrgios as their opponents before the quarter-final.
Daniil Medvedev and Marin Cilic are the players to beat in the third quarter, facing Reilly Opelka, Christopher Eubanks, Marius Copil, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Frances Tiafoe, Alexander Bublik and Ivo Karlovic in a very interesting group of players. In the bottom quarter, Milos Raonic and Karen Khachanov are the best-ranked players, having to pass Matthew Ebden, Andrey Rublev, Bernard Tomic, Alex de Minaur, Kyle Edmund, Lloyd Harris, Ugo Humbert and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, with super exciting matches coming up right from the opening round.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2yfjrN1
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