The ATP’s February swing heats up in a major way this week with one of the best 500-point events on the annual tennis calendar, the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev withdrew, but the field still includes Alex de Minaur, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Bublik.
Here is a breakdown of the tournament in addition to my picks.
ABN AMRO Open
Surface: Indoor hard
Points: 500
Top seed: Alex de Minaur
2025 champion: Carlos Alcaraz (not playing)
De Minaur may be the top seed, but the draw did not do him many favors. The Aussie has to go up against Arthur Fils in the opening round before potentially running into Stan Wawrinka in his next match and Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last eight. Ugo Humbert also finds himself in the top half of the bracket. The Frenchman, who finished runner-up in Adelaide last month, defeated Daniil Medvedev in three sets on Monday.
Other first-round matches to watch are Bublik vs. Hubert Hurkacz and Tallon Griekspoor vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. Auger-Aliassime, the second seed, just captured the Montpellier title this past Sunday. It was his ninth ATP triumph and his eighth indoors. The Canadian will get underway in Rotterdam against Alexei Popyrin.
Quarterfinal picks: Alex de Minaur over Botic van de Zandschulp, Ugo Humbert over Cameron Norrie, Alexander Bublik over Jaume Munar, and Felix Auger-Aliassime over Tallon Griekspoor
Semifinal picks: De Minaur over Humbert and Auger-Aliassime over Bublik
Final pick: Auger-Aliassime over De Minaur
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.