ANTWERP, October 16, 2016
After an absence of 18 years, the ATP World Tour has returned to Belgium with the first edition of the €635,645 European Open, held inside the Lotto Arena in Antwerp. The 28-man singles main draw was released on Saturday and starts on Monday.
After a first round bye, top seed David Goffin awaits the winner of the “battle of the veterans” between Spanish wild card Tommy Robredo, who is on his comeback trail after an elbow injury, and Florian Mayer of Germany, who celebrated his biggest title win at the ATP 500 event in Halle this year. Four weeks ago, Goffin kicked off the inaugural European Open with some street tennis in the city of Antwerp.
The tournament’s number two David Ferrer will open his title bit, meeting the winner of the encounter between British NextGen star Kyle Edmund and Illya Marchenko of the Ukraine. Third seed Richard Gasquet will take on either Spaniard Inigo Cervantes or a qualifier. The 30-year-old Frenchman looks to win his second title of the season, following his triumph in Montpellier in February.
Hamburg runner-up Pablo Cuevas from Uruguay, who is the tournament’s number four, will play the winner of the match between Guillermo Garcia-López of Spain and a qualifier.
Two youngsters will go head to head in the first round, as US-American teenager Taylor Fritz will clash with local wild card Joris de Loore. The 23-year-old Belgium is currently ranked on a career high 183th position and will meet the 2016 Happy Valley Challenger champion from California for the first time. The qualifying will conclude on Sunday.
