WINSTON-SALEM OPEN: After back-to-back competitions on the Masters 1000 Series we next turn our attention to the ATP 250 for the final tournament before the US Open. With most of the top ranked players competing in the Masters 1000 Series the Winston-Salem Open will provide an opportunity for the lower ranked players to get an ATP victory under their belt before the final Grand Slam of the year.
Adrian Mannarino – Defending champion
At 35 years old Adrian Mannarino is one of the most experienced players on the Tour and the world number 32 is still a formidable opponent.
Mannarino will be hoping to return to the Winston-Salem Open to defend his crown but the Frenchman has made it further than he probably would have expected at the ongoing Cincinnati Masters and with a semi-final against Alexander Zverev just a day before this tournament starts it could be a tight turnaround.
Mannarino has just three singles titles to his name but two of them have come in the past year so he is not showing signs of slowing down, and even with the potential overlapping of schedules he is unlikely to turn down a great opportunity for a fourth career victory here.
Borna Coric – Top seed
Borna Coric heads into the Winston-Salem Open as the top seed and the world number 16 is the only player inside the top 20 competing here.
The Croation number one is yet to pick up an ATP Tour victory in 2023 but his triumph at the 2022 Cincinnati Masters proves that he is a formidable force when it comes to the North American hard-court stage of the season.
Coric has shown decent form on the hard courts this season, recently making it to the semi-finals of the Los Cabos Open. He lost out to Hubert Hurkacz in the round of 32 at the Cincinnati Masters earlier in the week and will want to put that failed title defence behind him.
Coric’s best Grand Slam performances have come at the upcoming US Open where he reached the quarter-finals in 2020. A solid performance here would certainly set him in good stead to better that record at Flushing Meadows this year.
Laslo Djere – Back for more
Though not one of the household names on the Tour, Laslo Djere is the fifth seed for this tournament having reached the final here last year.
Djere is certainly an under-the-radar player on the ATP Tour at the moment with both of his career victories on the Tour coming over three and four years ago respectively. Djere has since reached three ATP Tour finals including last year’s Winston-Salem Open.
Djere is somewhat of a clay court specialist but he is no slouch on the hardcourt having also picked up an ITF Futures title on the surface. He has never really made an impact in the Grand Slams but the world number 34 has every chance of being a surprise package once again here and could potentially go one step further than last year to claim a third ATP Tour victory.
Dominic Thiem – Grand Slam champion
Despite being just 29 years of age it seems as though Dominic Thiem has been around on the ATP Tour forever. The Austrian began his ATP Tour career in 2011 aged just 18 and has been a consistent figure ever since.
It is fair to say that Thiem hit his prime between 2017 and 2020, reaching two Grand Slam quarter-finals, one semi-final, and three finals, as well as achieving his first and only Grand Slam victory at the 2020 US Open.
Since then Thiem has struggled with many injury setbacks but 2023 has been somewhat of a comeback year and he looks to be slowly getting back to his best. He reached his first ATP Tour final in over three years at the Austrian Open earlier this month and Thiem looks set to go well again here.
With his beloved US Open on the horizon Thiem will be eager to pick up what would be an 18th career title, and his seventh on hardcourt, in the build-up to the final Grand Slam of his comeback season.
