In form Machac meets home hope in Almaty, where Tiafoe, Tabilo lead seeds

Ravi Ubha

There have been no shortage of Czech tennis players climbing the ranks in recent years, with Tomas Machac one of those on an upward trajectory.

Machac’s first-round match at the Almaty Open brings added spice since Saturday’s draw set a clash with former junior No. 1 and one of the two home wildcards in Timofey Skatov.

Kazakhstan’s largest city by population now hosts the ATP 250 on indoor hard courts, having relocated from Astana. 

Not many players can say that they have defeated Novak Djokovic — the 2022 winner in Astana — and Carlos Alcaraz in the same year but the 23-year-old Machac achieved the feat this campaign.

He is also an Olympic gold medallist, standing on the top step of the podium in Paris in mixed doubles alongside Katerina Siniakova.

This time 12 months ago, the flashy Machac held a ranking of around No. 80. After his run at the ongoing Shanghai Masters, he is guaranteed a Top 30 debut.

But the 194th-ranked Skatov — part of the draw ceremony along with seventh seed Fabian Marozsan — has proven he is capable of pulling off upsets. He downed both Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Francisco Cerundolo in Argentina while on Davis Cup duty in February.

If he does overcome the fifth seed, Skatov would collect a first hard-court victory over a Top 80 player.

Machac and Skatov sit in the top half of the draw, which is led by top seed Frances Tiafoe.

Tiafoe, playing an ATP tournament in Kazakhstan for the first time, tangles with either Japan’s Taro Daniel or a qualifier following a first-round bye.

Second seed Alejandro Tabilo also receives a bye, before meeting either Germany’s Maximilian Marterer or Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Dzumhur and his fellow veteran, Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin, both made Top 100 returns in 2024 after years outside the ranking benchmark.

In Dzumhur’s case, he had to wait four-and-a-half years to re-enter the Top 100.

Tiafoe and Tabilo enter Almaty off the back of tough losses in Shanghai.

Tabilo relinquished a set and 5-1 advantage — plus five match points — against Tiafoe’s good friend, Tommy Paul. It dampened an otherwise stellar season which has seen the Chilean make three finals on three different surfaces.

Tiafoe lost to Roman Safiullin in a third-set tiebreak in Shanghai and was left frustrated by the chair umpire.

As the third and fourth seeds, Karen Khachanov and Cerundolo go straight to round two, too.

More wins for Mannarino in Kazakhstan?

The big-hitting Safiullin is in Almaty and begins against defending champion Adrian Mannarino.

Perhaps Kazakhstan will turn around Mannarino’s fortunes.

Besides landing the title in Astana last year, the left-handed Frenchman made the final in 2020 and quarterfinals in 2022.

Mannarino lost 20 of 22 matches at one stage this season, although he ended a quarterfinal drought last month in Chengdu.

The eighth seed additionally holds a 2-0 record against Safiullin.

Not far from a bye was China’s Zhang Zhizhen.

The sixth seed made his first career ATP final last month at home in Hangzhou, the same week that countryman Jerry Shang made a home final — and won it — in Chengdu.

If the ranking favourites prevail in Zhang’s section, he would meet Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko in the second round.

One of the three wildcards went to Germany’s Justin Engel, a 17-year-old making his ATP debut. He starts against a fellow Next Genner in 20-year-old Coleman Wong.

The oldest player in the draw isn’t Mannarino but rather the 37-year-old Fabio Fognini. The former No. 9 begins against the big-serving Finn, Otto Virtanen.