These two tgournaments are the last 2 ATP 500 tournaments to be played in  2023.    The draws of both will be done on S atirday and will be provided by tomorrow ecvening,   

There are two notable absentees from the Draws - namely Novak Djokovic - whose next torunament will aparently the ATP 1000 Paris Open the following week and Alcaraz who was carrying a minor injury problem since the US Open and wants to take off another week and is doubtful for the Paris Open as well.

Most of the top 10 players have registered to play in Vienna and amongst those are Medvedev, the winner last year and the 2020 winner Rublev..    Depending  on where Sinner play the two may be ranked 1 and 2  in the tournament.    Sinner may decide to play in Basel where he will be the number 1 ranked player.         

ERSTE BANK (VIENNA) OPEN

ROUND 2

Top Half of the Draw

1     Danill Medvedev                                       vs           Grigor Dimitrov

8     Karen Khachanov                                       vs            Jiri Helecka

4    Stefanos Tsitsipas                                        vs            Tomas Machac

6     Tommy Paul                                                vs           /Borna Gojo\

Bottom Half of the Draw    

6     Alexander Zverev                                        vs          Cameron Norrie

3     Andrey Rublev                                             vs          Matteo Arnaldi

7     Francis Tiafoe                                              vs          Gael Monfils

2     Jannilk Sinner                                              vs          Lorenzo Sonego

SWISS (BASEL)  OPEN

ROUND 2

Top Half of the Draw                 

1   Holger Rune                                                    vs          Sebastian Baez 

Juan Pablo Etchevedrry                                        vs          Andy Murray

3    Taylor Fritz                                                      vs           Alexander Shevchenko

6    Felix Auger-Aliassime                                     vs           Botic van de Zandschulp 

Bottom Half of the Draw

5    Alex de Minaur                                                vs          Tallon Griekspoor

4    Hubert Hurkacz                                               vs        '  Jan-Lennard Struff

7    Nicolas Jarry                                                   vs          Ugo Humbert/

2   Casper Ruud                                                     vs          Dominic Stricker

All qualifirs updated so the main tournaments can start tomorrow.  

There were 10 Round 1 matches played today  and the following brakdwn indicatesa that -

*   seeded players played today -  2 of tose (Khacharov and Zverev) won their matches - while in the third match the seeded player lost hius match playing another ranked player;

*    some of te top 32 raned playrs lplayes ost thir matches too  

*    4  rsanked players won their matches  0 one of them beating another ranked player 34 of the  of  the top 3 ranked players rankd players;

*   th oth matches were played by plates kowe than 32.   

ERSTE BANK (VIENNA) OPEN

QUARTERFINALS

Top Half of the Draw

1     Danill Medvedev                                  vs     8      Karen Khachanov

4    Stefanos Tsitsipas                                   vs     Borna Gojo\

Bottom Half of the Draw    

3     Andrey Rublev                                      vs      6     Alexander Zverev

2     Jannilk Sinner                                       vs      7     Francis Tiafoe

SWISS (BASEL)  OPEN

QUARTERFINALS

Top Half of the Draw                 

1   Holger Rune                                           vs       Tomas Martin Etcheverry

6    Felix Auger-Aliassime                         vs        Alexander Shevchenko

Bottom Half of the Draw

 4    Hubert Hurkacz                                     vs       Tallon Griekspoor      

Dominic Stricker                                          vs        Ugo Humbert  

ERSTE BANK (VIENNA) OPEN

SEMIFINALS

1     Danill Medvedev                   vs         4    Stefanos Tsitsipas

2     Jannilk Sinner                       vs           3     Andrey Rublev

SWISS (BASEL)  OPEN

SEMIFINALS

1   Holger Rune/                          vs            6     Felix Auger-Aliassime/

4    Hubert Hurkacz                     vs             Ugo Humbert 

Some interesting info about the above. in the case of the Vienna torunament 7 of the 8 seeds are playing in the quarterfinals.   In the case of the Basel tournament only 3  seeded players out of the 8 participants in the quarterfinals are seeded players and at leasxt one unseeded player will be in the semi's.     

In the case of the Vienna tournament there were 5 top 10 ranked players in  that series - in the case of the Swiss tournament there are 5 top 10 ranked players and all 5 are in he quarterfinals.   In the case of the Swiss tournament there were 3 participants ranked in the 10 rankings.- of whom 2 have been defeated  in the 2 rounds played.     2 of he seeds are in the rankings between 11 and 20.

in the case of the Basel tournament only 1  player is in the Top 10 ranked players - 1 player is in the rankings from 11 to 20 and 1 lost so many rnaking points at the start of the torunament that he is ranked at number 25 in the world.    

I have no idea who will be in he Vienna semi's  s  It seems that   the bookmakers favor Medvedev and Sinner are certainties to go through to the semi's - Tsitsipas form does not provide for a certain win and the Rublev-Zverev match is a toss-up.    a win by Zverev is essential for his place in the Turin Championship - while a win by Rublev would keep him in contentionas a potential no 4 ranking.     

In the case of the Basel tournament Rune and Hurkacz shoulsh ould beat his opponents - but the oher two matches are both toss-ups.       

RSTE BANK (VIENNA) OPEN

FINAL

1     Danill Medvedev                       vs      2        Jannilk Sinnerv

Congrats to Snner in winning in this tournament.    

SWISS (BASEL)  OPEN

FINAL

4        Hubert Hurkacz                     vs         6     Felix Auger-Aliassime

Congrats to Felix on winning his first tournament this year,    Hope you do well next week as well.   

The forecasxt in Vienna is that the final will be between  Medvedev and Sinner,   Reason - Medvedev is playing      Tsitsipas has been in poor form for the past 18 months and has not woin in  that period in any tournament. - looks on video's that he picked up some weight and he may not b as fit a he used to be.   His ranking is dropping like a lead ball  and if he loses today he is likely to fall further in  the Paris Masters series,      Rublev the Kind is admired by all spectators and respected and liked by all players - is totally unpredictable.    Howeever, he would like to beat S inner today as he would then become the 4th ranked layer in the world should he repeat his win of 2020 in Vienna.   However, Rublev is totally unpredictable and that is the result of moodswings during matches - an example being his loss in Shanghai - where eh was serving fir the match in the second set and  lost the game.- ending u losing the set.   yesterday he played against Zverv whom he calls h is elder brother - adn if he played in any match yesterday.   If he play like he did in the first set ymesterdxay he will beat any player in the world - ands Djokovic and Nadal will confirm that - but the question is will he?