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The draw for the 2021 Swiss Open in Gstaad was revealed on Saturday. Four of the ATP's top 20 will be in action, including World No. 10 Denis Shapovalov.
The Swiss Open, an ATP 250 claycourt event with a total prize pool of €419,470, is scheduled to start on 19 July. This will be the first edition of the event since 2019, as the 2020 edition was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Denis Shapovalov is joined by Roberto Bautista Agut, Casper Ruud and Cristian Garin as the top four seeds in Gstaad. All of them have received a bye in the first round.
Federico Delbonis, Benoit Paire, Laslo Djere and Feliciano Lopez complete the top eight seeds. Home favorites Dominic Stricker and Leandro Riedi also find themselves in the mix, with both teenagers having received wildcards.
Without any further ado, let us look at how the draw is expected to unfold.
Top half: Denis Shapovalov and Casper Ruud look to establish their superiority
Seeded players: [1] Denis Shapovalov, [3] Casper Ruud, [6] Benoit Paire and [8] Feliciano Lopez
Expected semifinal: Denis Shapovalov vs Casper Ruud
Dark horse: Alex Molcan
Analysis: Top seed Denis Shapovalov returns to the tour for the first time following his Wimbledon semifinal loss to Novak Djokovic.
Shapovalov will face either Johan Nikles or a qualifier in the second round, having received a first-round bye. Nikles is a 24-year-old Swiss player ranked No. 435 in the world, who mainly plies his trade on the ITF tour.
World No. 94 Mikael Ymer, meanwhile, plays World No. 160 Alex Molcan in the first round. This might be a closer match-up than the rankings suggest though, given that Molcan finished as the runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the Belgrade Open.
Switzerland's Marc-Andrea Huesler begins his campaign against veteran Feliciano Lopez. Lopez is on a three-match losing streak currently, and he also faced defeat to the Swiss during their 2020 encounter in Kitzbuhel.
Denis Shapovalov seems like a strong candidate to make the quarterfinals from this section of the draw, where he will likely face Alex Molcan.
Third seed Casper Ruud has also received a bye in the first round, and he will take on Dennis Novak or Yannick Hanfmann in the second. Ruud is into the semifinals of the Swedish Open in Bastad at the time of writing, with Hanfmann having gone down to Federico Coria in the last four of the same tournament.
Ruud and Hanfmann both excel on clay, but the former would be the clear favorite if the two of them meet in the Gstaad second round.
Tallon Griekspoor and Juan Ignacio Londero, meanwhile, will cross swords in the first round, and the winner of that match will play either Benoit Paire or Jozef Kovalik.
Paire played well in Hamburg earlier this week, losing a tough three-setter to Federico Delbonis in the quarterfinals. If the Frenchman maintains his newfound focus, he could make another foray into the last eight in Gstaad.
That said, Casper Ruud remains the overwhelming favorite to make it to the semifinals from this section.
Predicted semifinal result: Casper Ruud def. Denis Shapovalov
Bottom half: Cristian Garin and Roberto Bautista Agut battle for supremacy
Seeded players: [2] Roberto Bautista Agut, [4] Cristian Garin, [5] Federico Delbonis and [7] Laslo Djere
Expected semifinal: Roberto Bautista Agut vs Cristian Garin
Dark horse: Juan Manuel Cerundolo
Analysis: Fifth seed Federico Delbonis is into the semifinals of the Hamburg Open at the time of writing. He will face Pablo Carreno Busta on Saturday for a place in the final of the ATP 500 event.
In Gstaad, Delbonis has been drawn to face talented Swiss teenager Leandro Riedi in the first round. Riedi is making his debut on the ATP tour but he could well give a tough time to Delbonis, who will likely be fatigued from his efforts in Hamburg.
Riedi has given plenty of evidence of his claycourt skills already, having finished as the runner-up at the junior French Open in 2020.
Another couple of talented youngsters, Hugo Gaston and Juan Manuel Cerundolo, will lock horns with each other in the first round. The winner of this match will face Riedi or Delbonis in the second round.
Gaston and Cerundolo both love playing on clay, which makes this a tough match to predict. This section of the draw, in fact, seems quite open, given that any of the three youngsters could give Delbonis a run for his money.
Meanwhile, fourth seed Cristian Garin will open his account in the second round against Marc Polmans or a qualifier. Garin lost his second match (quarterfinals) at the Swedish Open in Bastad, and will be keen to make amends by going deeper in Gstaad.
Laslo Djere, playing in the semifinals of the Hamburg Open at the time of writing, has been drawn to face Thiago Seyboth Wild in the first round. Interestingly, the two had also met in the second round of Hamburg a few days ago, with the Serb winning 7-6(1), 6-1.
The winner of this match will play against a qualifier in the second round.
2018 Swiss Open runner-up Roberto Bautista Agut has received a bye in the first round and will cross swords with either Arthur Rinderknech or Dominic Stricker in the second round.
The Stricker vs Rinderknech clash promises to be a blockbuster affair, despite both players being ranked quite low. Both Rinderknech and Stricker have shown immense promise in recent months, and can more than hold their own on clay.
Predicted semifinal result: Cristian Garin def. Roberto Bautista Agut
Predicted champion
Casper Ruud
