{"id":402151,"date":"2026-01-12T02:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T02:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/402151\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T02:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T02:22:15","slug":"davidovich-fokina-leads-adelaide-field-shelton-ruud-in-auckland-atp-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/402151\/","title":{"rendered":"Davidovich Fokina leads Adelaide field, Shelton & Ruud in Auckland | ATP Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scouting Report
\n Scouting Report: Davidovich Fokina leads Adelaide field, Shelton & Ruud in Auckland<\/p>\n

An executive summary of what every fan should know about the coming week<\/p>\n

January 11, 2026<\/p>\n

\"Alejandro<\/p>\n

Corinne Dubreuil\/Peter Staples\/ATP Tour<\/p>\n

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Ben Shelton and Casper Ruud are among those in ATP 250 action across Adelaide and Auckland.
\n By ATP Staff<\/p>\n

The hard-court action continues either side of the Tasman Sea this week, when Adelaide and Auckland are the host cities for an ATP 250 doubleheader. <\/p>\n

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina<\/a> is the top seed at the Adelaide International<\/a>, where Tommy Paul<\/a>, Stefanos Tsitsipas<\/a> and hometown favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis<\/a> also compete. In Auckland, Ben Shelton<\/a> and Casper Ruud<\/a> headline the draw at the ASB Classic<\/a>. <\/p>\n

ATPTour.com looks at five things to watch at each event. <\/p>\n

\"\u201cATP\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN ADELAIDE
1) Can Foki thrive as a top seed?: Currently at a career-high No. 14 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Davidovich Fokina will compete as the top seed at an ATP Tour event for the first time in Adelaide. The 26-year-old Spaniard will look to bounce back from his opening-round exit in Brisbane when he takes on Tristan Schoolkate<\/a> or Rinky Hijikata<\/a> in his Adelaide opener. <\/p>\n

2) Tsitsipas aims to stay perfect: The Greek former World No. 3 Tsitsipas was in a positive mood last week in Perth, where he went 3-0 in singles across Greece\u2019s United Cup<\/a> campaign. Prior to Perth, the 12-time ATP Tour champion had not played a tour-level match since September due to a back injury, but he will step on court full of confidence for his Adelaide opener against a qualifier. <\/p>\n

You May Also Like: Pain-free and perfect in Perth: Tsitsipas on \u2018the biggest bliss\u2019, despite Greece exit<\/a><\/p>\n

3) Paul chases first win of the year: Like Tsitsipas, Tommy Paul<\/a> ended his 2025 season early due to injury. The American did not play after the US Open<\/a> after rupturing a tendon in his left foot, but returned to action last week in Brisbane, where he fell to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard<\/a> in a deciding-set tie-break. A two-time semi-finalist in Adelaide, this year\u2019s second seed will play Reilly Opelka<\/a> or home hope Alexei Popyrin<\/a> first. <\/p>\n

4) Kokkinakis\u2019 comeback: Hometown favourite Kokkinakis will play his first singles match in 12 months when he steps on court to face Sebastian Korda<\/a> in Adelaide. The 29-year-old had an unprecedented operation on his pec<\/a> after he competed at the 2025 Australian Open<\/a>. Having played doubles last week in Brisbane with Nick Kyrgios<\/a>, Kokkinakis makes his singles return at the venue where he lifted his maiden ATP Tour trophy in 2022. <\/p>\n

5) Cash\/Glasspool lead doubles field: The team that won Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 presented by PIF honours in 2025 has picked up where it left off this season. Julian Cash<\/a> and Lloyd Glasspool<\/a> reached the final in Brisbane to start their season, and the British duo will now head to Adelaide to compete as the top seeds. Their rivals in the draw include Harri Heliovaara<\/a> and Henry Patten<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN AUCKLAND
1)\tShelton seeks fast start: As he has done for the three previous seasons, Shelton begins his season in Auckland. The 23-year-old American, who is currently No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings, will be playing his first tour-level event since making his Nitto ATP Finals<\/a> debut in November. Shelton\u2019s first opponent in New Zealand will be Francisco Comesana<\/a> or Valentin Royer<\/a>. <\/p>\n

2) Ruud, Mensik compete: Ruud started his year with a statement victory against Top 10 star Alex de Minaur<\/a> at the United Cup<\/a> in Sydney, and the Norwegian will hope to reproduce that form as the second seed in Auckland. However, his rivals in the draw include third seed Jakub Mensik<\/a>, who prevailed in straight sets when the pair faced off in Sydney. <\/p>\n

3) Monfils begins his final season: The 39-year-old Gael Monfils<\/a> has announced 2026 will be his last year as a pro tennis player, and the Frenchman will be keen to showcase his world-class talent whenever possible across the season. That mission begins in Auckland, where he lifted his 13th ATP Tour crown a year ago. Alejandro Tabilo<\/a> and Roberto Bautista Agut<\/a> are the other former champions in the draw. <\/p>\n

4) Norrie\u2019s home comforts: British star Cameron Norrie<\/a> grew up in Auckland and returns to the ASB Classic<\/a> hoping this will be the year he can get over the line to claim the title. Norrie reached the championship match in 2019 (l. to Sandgren) and 2023 (l. to Gasquet). The fifth seed opens his 2026 title bid against qualifier Hugo Gaston<\/a>. <\/p>\n

5) Bhambri\/Goransson top seeds: Yuki Bhambri<\/a> and Andre Goransson<\/a> headline the doubles draw in Auckland. Their rivals in the draw include Brisbane champions Francisco Cabral<\/a> and Lucas Miedler<\/a>, and five-time ATP Tour champion duo Sadio Doumbia<\/a> and Fabien Reboul<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scouting Report Scouting Report: Davidovich Fokina leads Adelaide field, Shelton & Ruud in Auckland An executive summary of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-402151","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}