Wawrinka Leads, Year-end Hopefuls Gather Next Week at Basel Swiss Indoors

Homegrown champ Stan Wawrinka is the top seed, and players Marin Cilic and David Goffin are looking to use Basel to boost their qualifying chances for the year-end championships at the Swiss Indoors next week.
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Looking to stand in their way will be the two-time Basel champ Juan Martin del Potro and veterans Mikhail Youzhny, Marcos Baghdatis and Nicolas Mahut who will pose early-round challenges to seeds.

Here is a closer look at the field:

SWISS OPEN
Basel, Switzerland; Surface: hard

Seeds: Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic, David Goffin, Grigor Dimitrov, Richard Gasquet, Jack Sock

Floaters: Mikhail Youzhny, Adrian Mannarino, Marcos Baghdatis, Juan Martin del Potro, Nicolas Mahut, Gilles Muller, Benoit Paire

Notes: Three Top 10ers in the field, along with No. 11 and former US Open champ Marin Cilic…Plenty of unseeded floaters…Potential tough starts for (4) Cilic vs. the veteran Youzhny, (8) Sock vs. the fast-court Frenchman Mannarino, (5) Goffin vs. the veteran Baghdatis (winner to meet Del Potro), a possible (3) Nishikori vs. Mahut second round, and (6) Dimitrov vs. the giant-serving Muller…Wildcards went to Del Potro and Switzerland’s Marco Chiudinelli (who starts against countryman (1) Wawrinka) and Henri Laaksonen…Pulling from the event were Rafael Nadal, Borna Coric, Nick Kyrgios and Juan Monaco…The tournament misses seven-time champion Roger Federer who is nursing injuries for a 2017 return, as is Nadal…Federer is the two-time defending champion, beating Nadal in last year’s three-set final…Del Potro (2013-12) is the lone former champ in the field.