Today, the draw ceremony for this year’s ATP 250 Almaty Open was officially held in the Almaty Arena press room. Serbian tennis player Miomir Kecmanovic and local rising star Amir Omarkhanov joined media representatives and organizers, while chief ATP supervisor Andrey Kornilov monitored the draw’s regularity. Judging by the matchups drawn, we are in for an extremely exciting week of top-tier tennis, with several highly attractive matches awaiting us right at the start.
Top Seeds Get a First-Round Bye
According to the draw rules, the top four seeds receive a first-round bye (BYE) and will start their campaigns directly in the second round. Daniil Medvedev (#1) justifiably holds the top seed status, while the second seed is Italian player Luciano Darderi (#2). The third seed is local star and crowd favorite Alexander Bublik (#3), and the fourth spot goes to Andrey Rublev (#4).
Intriguing First-Round Clashes and Regional Players
For players from our region, the draw produced interesting matchups. Miomir Kecmanovic will start his tournament journey against experienced Australian James Duckworth. On the other hand, Croatian veteran Marin Cilic does not yet know his exact opponent, as he will face one of the successful qualifiers (Qualifier) in the first round.
Other notable first-round pairings include:
- Stefanos Tsitsipas (#7) will play against American Alexandar Kovacevic.
- Thomas Martin Etcheverry (#6) will square off against Mattia Bellucci.
- Karen Khachanov (#5), much like Cilic, will face a qualifier.
- An exciting all-Argentine derby awaits between Thiago Agustin Tirante (#8) and Facundo Diaz Acosta.
- French veteran Adrian Mannarino will play against Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic.
Challenging Path for Local Wildcards
Organizers awarded wildcards (WC) to local Kazakh players, who face tough tasks right from the start. Timofey Skatov (WC) will cross rackets with the dangerous Hungarian Fabian Marozsan. Young Zangar Nurlanuly (WC) received an extremely difficult opponent in excellent Czech Tomas Machac, while the experienced Mikhail Kukushkin (WC) awaits the conclusion of the qualifiers to find out his first-round rival.
The complete main draw PDF, detailed order of play, and all the latest news from the tournament can be found on our central ATP Almaty Open Hub Page – insert link.
