ANTWERP/WASHINGTON, October 13, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)
The draw ceremony for the European Open, an ATP 250 indoor hard-court event celebrating its ninth edition, took place in Antwerp, Belgium, Saturday evening. Give credit or blame — depending upon your point of view — to Belgian wild card Alexander Blockx, whose innocent hand helped determine the order of names that came out of box under the watchful eye of tournament director Dick Norman.
While both defending champion Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan and finalist Arthur Fils of France did not return for this year’s tournament, World No. 12 and fan favorite Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece is back and will be featured against either a qualifier or No. 50 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France in Thursday’s evening session at Lotto Arena. He and his younger brother, Petros, will defend their doubles title.
The draw is completed, thank you Alex Blockx for the help!#europeanopen #antwerp #antwerpen #tennis pic.twitter.com/g2df2XWnnV
— European Open (@EuroTennisOpen) October 12, 2024
Top seed will be World No. 11 Alex de Minaur of Australia, who was added to the 28-player main draw on Friday and will oppose either No. 54 Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain or No. 82 Dominik Koepfer in his opening match.
De Minaur, who will move into the Top 10 at No. 9 on Monday, reached the quarterfinals of the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open earlier this season. However, he’s been sidelined with a hip injury since losing his last-eight match in New York to Great Britain’s Jack Draper early last month. Recently, de Minaur was scratched from representing Team World at the Laver Cup in Berlin. His fitness, according to Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt in published reports, is “a work in progress.”
BIG NEWS: A top-10 player is coming to Antwerp!
Alex “The Demon” de Minaur is back at the European Open and ready to chase the title!
Don’t miss out—grab your tickets now! #europeanopen | #deminaur | #tennis | #antwerp pic.twitter.com/yoCWfKJcMU
— European Open (@EuroTennisOpen) October 11, 2024
Other high seeds receiving first-round byes into the second round are: No. 3 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, ranked 22nd, who won the 2022 Antwerp title; and No. 4 seed Sebastian Baez of Argentina, ranked 26th.
The fifth through eighth seeds include: No. 5 Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, ranked 34th; No. 6 Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina, ranked 37th; No. 7 Mariano Navone of Argentina, ranked 38th, and No. 8 Marcos Giron of the United States, ranked 47th.
This is the 2024 European Open main draw!#europeanopen #antwerp #antwerpen pic.twitter.com/nF3BBplU95
— European Open (@EuroTennisOpen) October 12, 2024
“The draw for the European Open has produced an exciting field with some eye-catching confrontations,” Norman said following the draw ceremony.
“Of course, our eyes turn quickly to the Belgians. It promises to be an exciting tournament, in which it is difficult to predict who will eventually advance. It is positive though, that the Belgians are still avoiding each other in the first round; let’s hope they only face each other later in the tournament.”
No. 73 Zizou Bergs is one of three Belgians in the main draw, along with wild cards Blockx, ranked 224th, and No. 164 Raphael Collignon. There are three other Belgians — No. 337 Michael Geerts, and wild cards No. 622 Gilles Arnaud Bailly and No. 650 Emilien Demanet — who are entered in the qualifying draw. Belgium’s top player, No. 66 David Goffin, is not entered in this year’s event after reaching the quarterfinals of the Rolex Shanghai Masters in China.
Bergs, who was placed in the bottom half of the draw, opens against No. 59 Facundo Diaz Acosta of Argentina Tuesday evening.
Wildcards announced!
Gilles-Arnaud Bailly and Emilien Demanet have received the wildcards for the European Open qualifications. Will they fight their way into the main draw?
#EuropeanOpen | #Wildcards | #tennis | #bailly | #demanet pic.twitter.com/K9zM3fvvb9
— European Open (@EuroTennisOpen) October 11, 2024
Neighboring France will be well represented in the main draw by 133rd-ranked wild card Richard Gasquet, who won the 2016 title and recently announced he will retire following next year’s Roland-Garros, as well as last year’s Antwerp quarterfinalist Mpetshi Perricard, No. 62 Arthur Rinderknech and No. 80 Hugo Gaston.
Two Germans — Koepfer and No. 84 Daniel Altmaier — are also in the draw and No. 85 Yannick Hanfmann is the top seed in the qualifying draw.
Other direct entrants include: No. 57 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, No. 63 Jaume Munar of Spain, No. 67 Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, No. 77 Thiago Monteiro of Brazil, and No. 87 Marton Fucsovics of Hungary.
“It promises to be an exciting tournament,” Norman added. “It is difficult to predict who will advance.”
Sunday’s European Open order of play
Here’s the Order of Play of the first day of the 2024 #EuropeanOpen! #antwerpen #antwerp #tennis #atptour pic.twitter.com/EHEDAvOze2
— European Open (@EuroTennisOpen) October 12, 2024
