Scouting Report: Shelton, Rublev & Baez lead Atlanta, Umag & Kitzbuhel fields

The worldwide action continues this week on the ATP Tour with a three-tournament slate in Atlanta, Umag and Kitzbuhel. Ben Shelton is the top seed at the Atlanta Open, while Andrey Rublev leads the field at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag and Sebastian Baez takes top billing at the Generali Open in Austria.

ATPTour.com breaks down some of the top storylines at each ATP 250 event.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN ATLANTA
1) Hometown Shelton: Competing in the city of his birth for the third straight year, Shelton enters as the top seed as he looks to improve on his 1-2 record at the event. Atlanta will be Shelton's first hard-court event since Miami, on the heels of a fourth-round run at Wimbledon, where he was beaten by Jannik Sinner.

2) Americans In Action: Since 2010, 10 Americans have won the Atlanta title. Third seed Frances Tiafoe, seventh seed Brandon Nakashima, Mackenzie McDonald, Aleksandar Kovacevic, Reilly Opelka and wild card Andres Martin will join Shelton in hoping to add to that tally, in addition to any qualifiers. Nakashima will face McDonald in the first round, while Kovacevic and Opelka will also square off. Martin could meet Shelton in the second round.

3) Mannarino Aims To Stop Skid: Adrian Mannarino remains in the Top 35 of the PIF ATP Rankings despite an 8-17 record this season. After notching just one singles win in five grass tournaments, could a switch to the hard courts spark a turnaround for the talented Frenchman?

4) Thompson Leads Five Aussies: Making his first appearance since Wimbledon, fourth seed Jordan Thompson leads a strong Australian contingent that also includes eighth seed Max Purcell, Christopher O'Connell, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Aleksandar Vukic. Purcell and O'Connell will meet in the first round, while Kokkinakis takes on Croatia's Borna Coric in one of the standout matches of the opening round.

5) Loaded Doubles Draw: Purcell and Thompson are the top seeds in the doubles draw, with singles stars Kokkinakis and Tiafoe also teaming up. Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow are seeded second, while Newport champions Andre Goransson and Sem Verbeek bid to make it two titles in as many weeks on American soil.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN UMAG
1) Rublev Ready For Turnaround?: After an opening loss to Thiago Agustin Tirante as the top seed last week in Bastad, Rublev is still in search of his first win since Roland Garros. The 26-year-old remains inside the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings at No. 9 but as of Monday will be less than 200 points clear of challengers Grigor Dimitrov, Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

2) Musetti Looks To Build On Wimbledon Run: After reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals for his best Grand Slam result, Italy's Lorenzo Musetti returns to action this week as the second seed in Umag. The 22-year-old reached a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 15 behind his London success and will play in Umag as the World No. 17. He will face an Argentine qualifier in the second round, either Marco Trungelliti or Guido Andreozzi.

3) Rune To Compete Before Olympic Debut: Despite retiring last week in the Hamburg quarter-finals with a knee injury and also dealing with a wrist issue, Holger Rune is set to play as the third seed in Umag. If the Dane makes a deep run at the ATP 250, he will have a quick turnaround for his Olympic debut, with the Paris tennis event set to begin on Saturday. Rune will face #NextGenATP Frenchman Luca Van Assche or Fabio Fognini in the second round.

4) Olympian Cerundolo Seeded Fourth: Francisco Cerundolo, who will represent Argentina at the Paris Olympics, followed a first-round Wimbledon exit with a quarter-final showing in Hamburg. If he can win his first title of 2024 in Umag, he will extend his streak of trophy-winning seasons to three after titles in 2022 (Bastad) and 2023 (Eastbourne). 

5) Van Assche Aims To Improve Jeddah Odds: Entering Umag at fifth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, Van Assche could strengthen his bid to return to the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF with a deep run this week. A semi-finalist last year in Jeddah, the 20-year-old earned his most recent tour-level win in Madrid.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN KITZBUHEL
1) Defending Champ Baez: After reaching the last four last week in Hamburg, losing to eventual champ Arthur Fils, Sebastian Baez will hope for another deep clay-court run in Kitzbuhel. The top seed will open his title defence against home favourite Dominic Thiem or countryman Tirante. Baez vs. Thiem would be a rematch of the 2023 Kitzbuhel final, which the Argentine won in straight sets to improve to 2-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

2) Berrettini To Back Up Gstaad Title?: After he found "the right energy" to win his ninth ATP Tour title on Sunday in Gstaad, Matteo Berrettini set himself up to return to the Top 50 in the PIF ATP Rankings. He will put his five-match (and 10-set) winning streak on the line against Pavel Kotov in the first round, with second seed Alejandro Tabilo waiting beyond that in the second round.

3) No Rest For Borges After Maiden Title: Nuno Borges beat Rafael Nadal to win his first tour-level title on Sunday in Bastad. He will be back in action quickly this week with an opening match against Colombian qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan.

4) Home Hope Thiem: Set to compete in Kitzbuhel for the final time in his farewell season, Thiem will meet Tirante in the first round for the right to take on Baez. The Austrian is bidding for his first tour-level match win since Estoril in April.

5) Murray/Pavalsek Lead Doubles Field: Top seeds Jamie Murray and Adam Pavlasek are the top seeds in the doubles draw, where Thiem and Germany's Daniel Altmaier will compete as wild cards. Those two pairs could meet in the second round.