Watch List: Murray, Nishikori at Citi Open; Wozniacki leads Stanford field
The Watch List highlights the must-know storylines for the upcoming week in tennis. This week, the Emirates Airlines U.S. Open series continues at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, where three Top 10 players in Caroline Wozniacki, Agnieszka Radwanska and Carla Suarez Navarro are the top seeds. Three of the Top 10 players in the ATP Rankings are also in action in Washington D.C. at the Citi Open, as Andy Murray, Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic lead the men's field. On the women's side, Ekaterina Makarova is the top seed with Sam Stosur, Belinda Bencic, CoCo Vandeweghe and Alize Cornet also in action.
Bank of the West Classic (Stanford, Calif.)
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Caroline Wozniacki is playing in her first tournament since losing to eventual-finalist Garbine Muguruza in the Round of 16 at Wimbledon. She will kick off her hard court season as the No. 1 seed in Stanford after Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament with an elbow injury on Friday. Despite being a two-time U.S. Open finalist, Wozniacki will make her debut at the Bank of the West Classic, with possible matchups against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Andrea Petkovic and No. 4 seed Karolina Pliskova. Also in the field are No. 3 seed Carla Suarez Navarro, Sabine Lisicki, Madison Keys, Elina Svitolina and Angelique Kerber. Former World No. 1 junior CiCi Bellis also received a wildcard into the event and will start her tournament against Misaki Doi of Japan, with No. 2 seed Agnieszka Radwanska waiting in the second round.
Citi Open (Washington D.C.)
[Complete men's draw] | [Complete women's draw]
All 16 men's seeds—Andy Murray, Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic, Richard Gasquet, Kevin Anderson, Grigor Dimitrov, Feliciano Lopez, John Isner, Viktor Troicki, Ivo Karlovic, Bernard Tomic, Vasek Pospisil, Sam Querrey, Pablo Cuevas, Jack Sock, Leonardo Mayer—receive first-round byes at the Citi Open. Wildcards were given to American Denis Kudla, who lost to eventual-champion Isner in the Atlanta semifinals, Tommy Haas, Lleyton Hewitt and Chile’s Nicolas Jarry. Murray's potential route to the final includes matchups against Cuevas, Isner and Gasquet.
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On the women's side, Ekaterina Makarova is the top seed followed by Sam Stosur, Belinda Bencic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Alize Cornet. There are nine Americans in the field, with Madison Brengle opening against Irina-Camelia Begu, unseeded Sloane Stephens starting off vs. Magda Linette of Poland and Lauren Davis playing No. 8 seed Zarina Diyas. Wildcards were awarded to Americans Taylor Townsend, CoCo Vandeweghe and Louisa Chirico. Townsend is playing in her first WTA-level tournament since losing in the first round at the French Open and will face-off against fellow American Irina Falconi, while Vandeweghe plays Christina McHale in the opening round.
Generali Open-Kitzbuhel (Kitzbuhel, Austria)
Coming off his second-straight title after winning last week in Umag at the Croatia Open and on Sunday in Gstaad at the Swiss Open, Dominic Thiem returns home as the top seed at the ATP 250 clay tournament in Kitzbuhel. Rounding out the top five in the field are Andreas Seppi, Fabio Fognini, who is coming off a loss to Rafael Nadal in the Hamburg final, Martin Klizan and Juan Monaco. Defending champ David Goffin and Gilles Simon both withdrew from the tournament. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Jiri Vesely and Albert Ramos-Vinolas are also in the field.
