Week in Preview: WTA Guadalajara, ATP Stockholm, Antwerp and Naples

This week the ATP plays host to three 250-level events in Europe. While there are some implications for the year-end race to Turin, most of the tour’s marquee players won’t be in action. That leaves more room on stage for the women, who are racing into the last lap of the 2022 campaign.

On Monday, most of the WTA Top 20 will gather in Guadalajara for the final 1000-level tournament of the season—and nearly all of them still have a chance to qualify for the year-end tournament in Fort Worth.

Guadalajara Open Akron (WTA)

• Guadalajara, Mexico
• $2,527,250; WTA 1000
• Hard court
• Draw is here

The 2021 WTA Finals were one of the surprise highlights of the season. Due to the pandemic, the tour was forced to shift its year-end showcase out of China. Guadalajara, with big crowds and vocal fans, turned out to be the perfect substitute location. Now the WTA is back with a 1000-level event; hopefully the fans will be just as engaged this time around.

There are certainly big-name players to cheer. While Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur and Anett Kontaveit are absent, six of the Top 10 are here. Paula Badosa, Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Maria Sakkari, Coco Gauff, Caroline Garcia, Daria Kasatkina and Veronika Kudermetova make up the Top 8 seeds.

That may read like a who’s who of recent WTA success, but of those players, only Pegula has clinched a spot in Fort Worth. Gauff is the next closest, and 16 others in Guadalajara have a chance. Those on the outside looking include the top seed, Badosa, who is just 12th in the race; the fourth-seeded Sakkari, who is No. 10. There’s a lot to fight for, in other words, and we won’t know who’s going to Fort Worth until Guadalajara plays itself out.

First-round matches to watch:

• Karolina Pliskova vs. Elena Rybakina
• Belinda Bencic vs. Leylah Fernandez

Stockholm Open (ATP)

• Stockholm, Sweden
• $800,000; ATP 250
• Indoor hard court
• Draw is here

Stockholm is a 250, but it has the feel and the field of a 500. This year that field is headlined by Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is one of the five players—along with Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud, and Novak Djokovic—who have already locked up their spots at the ATP season-ender in Turin.

Second-seeded Cam Norrie is the only other player in this draw who still has a chance to join Tsitsipas. The Brit is currently 700-odd points behind the last qualifier, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and will need some big results this week and the weeks ahead. He’ll start against either Aslan Karatsev or blast-from-the-past qualifier Lukas Rosol.

Also here: Frances Tiafoe, Denis Shapovalov, Alex de Minaur and Florence runner-up J.J. Wolf.

First-round match to watch: Tommy Paul vs. Leo Borg. Yes, that Borg—Leo is Bjorn’s 19-year-old son.

European Open (ATP)

• Antwerp, Belgium
• $800,000; ATP 250
• Indoor hard court
• Draw is here

Antwerp’s field may not have as many crowd-pleasers as Stockholm, but it does have race implications at the top. Hubert Hurkacz and Auger-Aliassime are the first and second seeds, and they’re on opposite sides of the Turin bubble at the moment. Auger Aliassime’s title run in Florence last week leaves him in the eighth and final spot. Hurkacz, meanwhile, is two places behind FAA, and a little more than 100 points behind Taylor Fritz at No. 9.

Also here: Dominic Thiem, who could go up against Hurkacz in the third round.

First-round matches to watch:

• Jack Draper vs. Jenson Brooksby
• Sebastian Korda vs. Marcos Giron
• Stan Wawrinka vs. Richard Gasquet

Tennis Napoli Cup (ATP)

• Naples, Italy
• $700,000; ATP 250
• Indoor hard court
• Draw is here

Italy has been producing top ATP players for a few years; now the tournaments are following in their wake. Last week the tour was in Florence, this week it’s Naples. Matteo Berrettini, Lorenzo Musetti and Lorenzo Sonego will give the home folks three quality players to cheer for.

The top seed, though, is Pablo Carreño Busta of Spain. He’s also the player with the best chance of making it to Turin—not a great chance, but a chance. PCB is 13th in the race, about 700 points behind No. 8 FAA.