ATP Washington 2021: Men’s Singles Draw Preview, Analysis and Prediction for Citi Open
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Felix, Nadal and Kyrgios
The North American hard court swing of the 2021 season will commence with the ATP 500 Citi Open at Washington starting from August 2. For the first time, Rafael Nadal will participate in the tournament and will lead the field as the top seed.
Tournament Details:
- Tournament: Citi Open 2021
- Date: August 2-8, 2021
- Number of Entrants: 48 (Singles), 16 (Doubles)
- Venue: Washington, DC, U.S.A.
- Surface: Hard Court
- Prize Money: $1,895,290
- Defending champion: Nick Kyrgios
Top Seeds at the Citi Open 2021
- Rafael Nadal
- Felix Auger-Aliassime
- Alex de Minaur
- Grigor Dimitrov
- Jannik Sinner
Men’s Singles Draw Analysis and Prediction
Top Half
The top half of the draw is headlined by the 20-time grand slam champion Rafael Nadal, who will play in Washington for the first time. He has been handed a first round bye alongwith all the other 15 seeds. He will play either Jack Sock or Yoshihito Nishioka in the second round and could go on to face either James Duckworth, Tennys Sandgren or 14th seed Lloyd Harris in the third round.
He is drawn alongwith 7th seed Cameron Norrie and 9th seed Alexander Bublik. The Kazakh will open his campaign most probably against Kei Nishikori who face Sam Querrey in the opening round while Norrie is expected to face Marcos Giron.
4th seed Grigor Dimitrov will be up against a Belarussian in the second round, Ilya Ivashka or Egor Gerasimov. Dimitrov is drawn against 13th seed Benoit Paire who might face Australian star Nick Kyrgios in the second round. The last bracket of the top half features 6th seed Dan Evans and Taylor Fritz alongwith Denis Kudla, Feliciano Lopez and Alexei Popyrin. Fritz and Evans might lock horns in the Round of 16.
First Semifinal Prediction: Rafael Nadal vs Nick Kyrgios
Bottom Half
The bottom half of the draw will be headlined by Felix Auger Aliassime who opens against either a qualifier or Andreas Seppi. The Canadian could face in form Kevin Anderson in the third round and has been drawn with another big server, Reilly Opelka. The American 8th seed could face Tommy Paul in the second round and is expected to clash with Australian John Millman in the third round. The winner is expected to face Felix in the quarterfinal.
3rd seed Australian, Alex de Minaur has been handed an easy draw and will face local Steve Johnson or a qualifier in the second round. De Minaur is expected to face 15th seed Miomir Kecmanovic in the Round of 16 according to the seedings. Jannik Sinner too is in the bottom half and will face a qualifier or Emil Ruusuvuori in the second round. 12th seed Sebastian Korda is expected to face Sinner in the Round of 16 if he manages to get past Vasek Pospisil.
Second Semifinal Prediction: Alex de Minaur vs Felix Auger Aliassime
Semifinals
The first semifinal will probably be the most exciting match of the tournament. Nadal will face Kyrgios for a place in the final and if the past meetings is to be taken in consideration, expect nothing less than fireworks on court. It will be a closely fought match with Nadal cruising into the final.
Alex de Minaur will be up against Felix Auger Aliassime in the second semifinals. The two young guns will look make it to the finals and have very similar attacking games. Expect Felix to edge past the Aussie.
Predicted Final: Rafael Nadal vs Felix Auger Aliassime
ATP Washington 2021 Final
The final will be played between Nadal, one of the GOATs and Felix, one of the most promising NextGen players. Felix will come all guns blazing against Nadal but expect the Spaniard to counter him and win his first hardcourt title of the season.
Champion: Rafael Nadal
Also read: REVEALED! Rafael Nadal’s potential path to Washington Open 2021 title
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Lakshya Chopra
(2596 Articles Published)