HAMBURG EUROPEAN OPEN: The ATP tour continues on the red clay surfaces on Monday as a selection of the tour’s biggest names head to Hamburg. With only one of the world’s top 15 in action here this tournament could provide the perfect opportunity for the less experienced players to pick up an ATP 500 title.
Lorenzo Musetti – Defending champion
Lorenzo Musetti is just 21 years of age and is one of the most exciting young players on the ATP Tour with two titles to his name already. He currently ranks 16th in the world and is the number two ranked Italian player behind fellow youngster Jannik Sinner.
One of Musetti’s two ATP Tour titles came on clay and also came in the ATP 500 series when he won this tournament almost exactly a year ago. Currently competing at the Swedish Open, Musetti has a chance of picking up his first ATP title of 2023 there but should he fail to do so he could bounce back here.
Musetti enjoys the clay surface and even beat world number one and recent Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz on the surface in last year’s final. The youngster has years ahead of him to rack up the ATP titles but he certainly wouldn’t say no to retaining his crown here and picking up his second clay court title on the ATP 500 series.
Casper Ruud – World number four
Another player still in the Swedish Open is Casper Ruud, and the Norwegian youngster will head in to this tournament as the world number four and top seed.
The 24-year-old has had a year to remember so far, especially on the clay courts as he reached his third Grand Slam final at the French Open, where he lost out to the formidable Novak Djokovic.
Ruud had an underwhelming Wimbledon campaign, crashing out in the second round at the hands of home competitor Liam Broady, who was the much-favoured player as far as the crowd were concerned.
The world number four will want to bounce back and could do so by picking up his 11th ATP Tour title here, and his 10th on clay.
Francisco Cerundolo – Back for more
Francisco will be looking to go at least one better at the Hamburg European Open this year, having lost out in the semi-finals last year to the eventual champion Lorenzo Musetti.
Cerundolo is currently ranked 20th in the world and is the top ranked Argentinian player. He also remains in the Swedish Open and could see his ranking jump up to 19th before this tournament starts.
Cerundolo has two ATP Tour titles to his name, one of which came on clay when he won the Swedish Open last year. He has reached two other finals on clay, losing the Argentinian Open in 2022 and coming out second best to Arthur Fils in the Lyon Open final earlier this year.
Cerundolo has bags of ability and loves the clay court surface, giving him every reason to be hopeful of picking up his first title on the ATP 500 series in Hamburg next week.
Richard Gasquet – 18 years in the making
Richard Gasquet is a veteran on the ATP Tour, with the 37-year old Frenchman winning his first title back in 2005, when he was victorious at the Nottingham Open on the ATP 250 series. Since then he has amassed 16 titles on the tour, but none of those have come in the ATP 500 series.
Gasquet has had a bit of a revival this year having won his first ATP title in almost five years when winning the Auckland Open back in January, an amazing feat on a tour which is filled with young, talented players.
Gasquet hasn’t had the best time of it in ATP finals on clay, winning just three of his 10, but he has never reached the final of the Hamburg European Open, and the talented, experienced Frenchman may just pull off an upset to take his career finals record to even at 17-17 with a win here.
