Fritz, Paul compete in Eastbourne; Shelton headlines Mallorca

The grass-court swing continues on the ATP Tour this week at the Rothesay International and the Mallorca Championships.

Two-time champion Taylor Fritz and American Tommy Paul compete in Eastbourne, where Francisco Cerundolo returns as the defending champion at the ATP 250. Ben Shelton leads the Mallorca field, with Ugo Humbert also in action.

ATPTour.com looks at 10 things to watch across the two events.

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FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN EASTBOURNE

1) Fritz Aims For Hat-Trick: Top seed Fritz boasts a 9-2 record across four appearances at the ATP 250, where he lifted the trophy in 2019 and 2022, the latter coming a week before his Wimbledon quarter-final run. The American, searching for his second title of the year, has not won the same event three times in his career.

2) Defending Champion Cerundolo Leads Other Seeds: Paul, Alexander Bublik and Cerundolo look to add to their grass-court pedigree. Cerundolo last year claimed his maiden grass title when he beat Paul in the Eastbourne final. The 2023 Halle champion Bublik, who has made two additional grass finals, is making his third appearance in Eastbourne.

3) Fils Fleeing From Jeddah Contenders: #NextGenATP Arthur Fils looks to add to his substantial lead in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah. The 20-year-old, aiming for a return trip to the 20-and-under Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, leads second-placed Jakub Mensik by more than 320 points. Fils arrives in Eastbourne following a quarter-final run in Halle, his career-best grass result.

4) Don’t Sleep On ‘ZZZ’: Last year’s quarter-finalist Zhang Zhizhen posted one of his biggest career wins in Halle, where he upset World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev en route to the semi-finals. Set to rise to a career high inside the Top 35 of the PIF ATP Rankings, Zhang aims to build upon his momentum.

5) Nishikori Makes Grass Return: Japanese star and former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori is set to play his first grass event since 2021 Wimbledon. The 34-year-old reached the Eastbourne semi-finals in 2011 and now 13 years later, Nishikori returns to the ATP 250 in what will be his third tournament of the year.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN MALLORCA

1) Shelton Seeks First Grass Win Of 2024: After early exits at Stuttgart and Queen’s Club, Shelton is bidding for his first grass win of the season — and the third tour-level grass win of his career — in Mallorca. The top seed picked up wins at Queen’s and Wimbledon last year but has yet to win multiple matches at an event on the lawns. He will open against Luca Nardi or Rinky Hijikata in Spain.

2) Monfils, Thiem Square Off: The popcorn match of the Mallorca first round will see sixth seed Gael Monfils take on wild card Dominic Thiem. Theim leads their ATP Head2Head 6-0, with their most recent meeting coming at the 2020 Australian Open — but they have never before met on grass. Both players are competing on the surface for the first time this season.

3) Humbert, Mannarino Make Three Seeded Frenchman: Second seed Humbert and third seed Adrian Mannarino join Monfils among the seeded French players in the ATP 250 draw. Both Humbert and Mannarino seek to atone for an opening loss at Queen’s. Prior to that, Humbert, was a semi-finalist at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, where Mannarino reached the last 16.

4) Carballes Baena Leads Spanish Charge: Five Spaniards (plus qualifiers) will compete on home soil in Mallorca, led by Robert Carballes Baena, the No. 62 man in the PIF ATP Rankings. RCB will meet countryman and wild card Pablo Carreno Busta in the first round. They are joined by Jaume Munar (vs. Sebastian Ofner), Pedro Martinez (vs. Luciano Darderi) and Roberto Bautista Agut (vs. Taro Daniel) in the singles draw.

5) Top Doubles Seeds All Countrymen: Each of the top three doubles seeds share the same flag. Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow are the top seeds, followed by Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, then Frenchmen Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul. India’s Yuki Bhambri, who won the 2023 Mallorca doubles title with Lloyd Harris, partner’s Frenchman Albano Olivetti this year.

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