ORTISEI, November 5, 2016

World number 111 Benjamin Becker of Germany will be the top seed of the €64,000 Sparkasse ATP Challenger Val Gardena, held at the Tennis Center in Ortisei from 7 to 13 November. The 35-year-old captured the title here in 2012 beating local favourite Andreas Seppi in the final. Becker will start against a qualifier.

Second seed Evgeny Donskoy from Russia will also begin his title bid against a qualifier. The tournament’s number three is Alessandro Giannessi of Italy, who will take on Alexander Bublik in the first round. Fourth favourite Mirza Basic of Bosnia and Herzegovina awaits a qualifier.

Hometown hero Patrick Prader, who was granted a wild card into the main draw, will take on number seven seed Federico Gaio of Italy. The 30-year-old from South Tyrol beat Gaio in the only previous meeting between the two at the ITF Future in Appiano in 2014.

“We know each other pretty well. Gaio played very well in the last two weeks. It is going to be a very tough match,” Prader told. Last weeks’s finalists Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania and US-American Rajeev Ram withdrew from the tournament ahead of its start this week.