Alexander Bublik, who was going to be the seventh seed in Basel, also withdrew shortly after retiring in the middle of his Almaty semi-final over the weekend. He had been drawn to play Swiss wildcard Dominic Stricker.

It means that the two players with the next-highest rankings in the draw, Casper Ruud and Hubert Hurkacz, have taken their positions and become the No. 9 and 10 seeds. Ruud will now take on Stricker, while Hurkacz faces Bergs.

It’s a lifeline for both men, who had the toughest draws possible before their sudden updrages. Ruud was initially meant to face No. 1 seed Ben Shelton, while Hurkacz was up against second seed Arthur Fils. While it’s good news for Ruud and Hurkacz, fans will be denied some exciting first-round matches.

And they’ve also been denied a mouthwatering clash between Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas after the Greek star pulled out with a right shoulder injury. It came after Tsitsipas’ three-set semi-final loss in Almaty. No. 6 Fritz would have been out for revenge after losing to Tsitsipas in Shanghai just a few weeks ago.

Two other qualifiers, Yannick Hanfmann and Remy Bertola, made it to the main draw. Hanfmann faces fellow German star and Brussels runner-up Jan-Lennard Struff, and home home Bertola is up against Denis Shapovalov.

Last week, Wawrinka earned his first tour-level win since May, as he stunned 20-year-old Martin Landaluce in a final-set tiebreak in Lyon. And the former world No. 3 has already been practising on-site with an old foe, Djokovic.

The Serbian superstar took a wildcard into the Swiss Indoors shortly after he suffered a shock opening-round exit in Shanghai. Before that, Djokovic lifted his 102nd career title in Beijing. The world No. 12 has made it no secret that he wants to qualify for this year’s ATP Finals, and he faces Ugo Humbert in round one here.