Carlos Alcaraz will play against the Hungarian Balasz at the Great Ocean Road Open

Carlos Alcaraz, the great promise of Spanish tennis, already knows who he will face in the first round of the Great Ocean Road Open, one of two ATP 250 tournaments that will kick off on February 1 at Melbourne Park. The 17-year-old from Murcia, who will leave a quarantine in Australia at the last minute this Saturday in which he has not been able to leave his room to train, He will face the 32-year-old and 93-year-old Hungarian Attila Balasz, a rival without track records or finals in the ATP.

Alcaraz goes by the side of the main favorite, David Goffin's draw, which is exempt from that first round and would be his rival in the second round if the Spanish advances. From then on, his ranking opponents would be Vasek Pospisil, Nikoloz Basilashvili and Hubert Hurkacz, before a hypothetical final against second-seeded Karen Khachanov. It will be the third ATP category event for Carlos, after Rio de Janeiro in 2010, when he won his first match (against Albert Ramos), and the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, where they fell in the first round of the qualifying round.

In the tournament there are other Spaniards. Mario Vilella, one of the 72 victims of having been in contact with a positive case for COVID, will face the German Yannick Hanfmann (29 years and 100th); Pedro Martínez will meet the Danish Mikael Torpegaard (26 and 193º); Pablo Andujar will be seen with the media Pablo Cuevas (35 and 70º); Roberto Carballés, with the Italian Stefano Travaglia (29th and 71st); and Feliciano López will face South African Kevin Anderson (34th and 82nd).

Ramos, at the Murray River Open

Albert Ramos will be the only representative of the Navy in the other ATP 250, the Murray River Open, which has as main favorites the Swiss Stan Wawrinka and the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, which is on the same side as Ramos and could be his rival in the quarterfinals. The Catalan makes his debut against Australian guest Blake Mott (24 years old and 481st in the world). In the second round, if he advances, he could be seen with Tiafoe or Moutet. The always interesting Nick Kyrgios participates in this event, who will debut against Frenchman Alexandre Muller.