By Britwatch Team
- Top seeds: Bernard Tomic, Dominic Thiem, Viktor Troicki, Grigor Dimitrov
- Defending champion: Viktor Troicki
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA- Bernard Tomic is the top seed as the Australian Open preparations conclude in Sydney.
Top Quarter: Bernard Tomic
Tomic will take plenty of confidence from Brisbane into this event having recorded the biggest win of his career over Kei Nishikori. The Aussie loves playing in front of a home crowd and is the favourite to take home the title.
Leonardo Mayer will likely be the biggest test in this quarter for Tomic, though there are plenty of dangerous players in this section such as Sam Groth and Teymuraz Gabashvili.
Second quarter: Viktor Troicki
Defending champion Viktor Troicki is back to defend the crown he won 12 months a go. The Serbian will be fairly happy with his draw with Andreas Seppi being the other seed in this quarter.
Tommy Robredo, Denis Istomin and Adrian Mannarino are other players to watch out for in perhaps the most wide open section of the draw.
Third quarter: Grigor Dimtrov
Grigor Dimitrov had a disappointing 2015 but his new year got off to a good start in Brisbane where he pushed Roger Federer to a third set in the quarter finals. The Bulgarian looked much more like his 2014 self last week which makes him one of the title favourites.
Alexandr Dolgopolov is not a player you want to draw in your section. The Ukrainian possesses a unique but effective game and is capable of beating anyone when clicking. There are some dangerous players in the form of Thomaz Bellucci, Simone Bolelli and Pablo Cuevas filling up this quarter.
Bottom quarter: Dominic Thiem
Another player who will take confidence from Brisbane is Dominic Thiem. The second seed went all the way to the semi finals last week before ultimately falling to Federer. The young Austrian is growing by the week and could be a major threat this season.
Borna Coric will likely meet him in round two after a final run in Chennai. That would give a glimpse into a potential future rivalry. Jeremy Chardy is always dangerous with his aggressive style and is the other seed in the section.
The Apia International Sydney kicks off on the 11th January.