Scouting Report: Dimitrov, Rune & Thiem Star In Winston-Salem

A host of emerging talents will compete this week at the Winston-Salem Open, an ATP 250 hard-court event in North Carolina.

#NextGenATP stars Lorenzo Musetti, Holger Rune and Jack Draper will be seeking deep runs to further increase their Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals qualification chances in the final tour-level tournament before the US Open.

Grigor Dimitrov will lead the draw as the top seed, with Austrian Dominic Thiem in action.

Before play begins, ATPTour.com looks at five things to watch in Winston-Salem.

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1) Dimitrov Top Seed: The Bulgarian will look to bounce back from a disappointing first-round exit against Denis Shapovalov in Cincinnati when he makes his second appearance in Winston-Salem. The World No. 18 started the season strongly, reaching the quarter-finals in Indian Wells before advancing to the last four in Monte Carlo. Dimitrov will look to find the winning formula in North Carolina as he seeks his first title since 2017.

2) Thiem Makes Debut: Thiem showed signs that he was returning to his best in July, advancing to quarter-finals in Bastad and Kitzbühel, while he reached the semi-finals in Gstaad. Playing in his first hard-court event of the season, the Austrian will look to build further momentum on debut in Winston-Salem.

The former World No. 3, currently No. 228 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, opens against American J.J. Wolf and could play Dimitrov in the second round.

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3) Musetti & Rune Seeking Second Titles: #NextGenATP stars Musetti and Rune will look to hit further heights when they compete in Winston-Salem. Italian Musetti, currently third in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Milan, lifted his maiden tour-level title in Hamburg before he came through qualifying in Cincinnati last week.

Rune, who is making his debut at the ATP 250 hard-court event, soared to his first tour-level trophy in Munich in April and arrives aiming to build on his battling performance against Cameron Norrie in Ohio last week. Good runs in Winston-Salem will see 20-year-old Musetti and 19-year-old Rune boost their already strong chances to qualify for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals for a second consecutive year.

4) Pepperstone ATP Race To Milan Continues To Heat Up: Behind third-placed Musetti and fourth-placed Rune, the battle to qualify for the 21-and-under event is heating up. Draper, currently fifth, advanced to his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final in Montreal earlier this month, while sixth-placed Jiri Lehecka captured his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title of the year at the start of August.

Chun-Hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei holds a 36-16 record across all levels this season and is currently eighth. Draper will play Fabio Fognini or Dusan Lajovic in his opening match, while Lehecka plays Peter Gojowczyk in the first round. Tseng takes on Hugo Dellien.

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5) Mektic/Pavic Headline Doubles: Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic will be seeking their fifth title of the season as a team when they take to court in Winston-Salem. The top seeds will face tough competition from second seeds and Roland Garros finalists Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek and third seeds Matthew Ebden and Jamie Murray. Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara are seeded fourth in North Carolina.