Thiem Headlines, Wawrinka Spices-Up St. Pete Open; ATP Preview

Stan Wawrinka takes a wildcard into St. Pete where as an unseeded player he is looking at a meeting with No. 4 Karen Khachanov in the second round.
ADHEREL
Dominic Thiem headlines the field where Damir Dzumhur will try and duplicate the magic that brought him to the 2017 final.

ST. PETERSBURG OPEN
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia: surface: hard

Seeds: Dominic Thiem, Fabio Fognini, Marco Cecchinato, Karen Khachanov, Roberto Bautista Agut, Damir Dzumhur, Denis Shapovalov, Daniil Medvedev

Floaters: Andrey Rublev, Mikhail Kukushkin, Joao Sousa, Marcos Baghdatis, Lukas Lacko, (WC) Stan Wawrinka

Notes:

The Top 10-er Thiem leads the field at the small ATP 250-level event…the Top 4 seeds receive first-round byes…

Interesting starts for (1) Thiem vs. the “Next-Gen” Rublev, (8) Medvedev vs. Sousa then Kukushkin, (3) Cecchinato vs. the Baghdatis-Lacko winner, and (4) Khachanov vs. (WC) Wawrinka…

Wildcards were awarded to Bautista Agut, Wawrinka, and the soon-to-be-retired Mikhail Youzhny…

Pulling from the field were Jozef Kovalik and Leonardo Mayer…

The No. 6 seed Dzumhur won the title last year, coming from a set down to defeat Fognini…

Former champions in the field are Dzumhur (2017), Martin Klizan (2012), Kukushkin (2010), and Youzhny (2004) who is 1-2 career in St. Pete finals.