Kevin Anderson and Milos Raonic should cop the top seeds in the Delray Beach Open singles draw, with Anderson ranked No. 12 at the end of 2015 and Raonic No. 14. They are the early favorites, but it’s a talented draw with more than a few players who could walk away with the top prize.

Raonic, who will make his first Delray Beach appearance on Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 8:00 pm, has already climbed to No. 11 thanks to a 9-1 record to start the 2016 season. After beating Roger Federer in the Brisbane final to win his season opener, Raonic reached the Australian Open semifinal before going down to Andy Murray in five sets.  Anderson has played only three matches after retiring in the AO with a knee injury.

Delray-bound Bernard Tomic (No. 20) and Grigor Dimitrov (No. 28) have both started the season 7-3 with Tomic reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open  (two of his three losses have come to Raonic and Murray) while Dimitrov reached the Sydney final in week 2 (chalk up two of his losses to Roger Federer).

Others in the Delray Beach mix include defending champion Ivo Karlovic and runner-up Donald Young, as well as No. 2 American Steve Johnson and No. 4 Sam Querrey. 2006 champion Tommy Haas, if he indeed begins his comeback from a shoulder injury in Delray, is a fan favorite.

For the first time in history, the Delray Beach singles qualifying draw will include 16 players playing two rounds. All ATP 250 series tournaments are following suit; every ATP 250 qualie draw win now brings ATP points: 6 for first round win and 12 for those who make the main draw.

The DBO qualifying draw includes a bevy of Americans –veterans Tim Smyczek, Ryan Harrison and Austin Krajicek; young 20s Bjorn Fratangelo and Dennis Novikov; and teenagers Jared Donaldson and Taylor Fritz.

It isn’t far-fetched to think that a qualifier could have an impact – Kei Nishikori won his first ATP title in Delray Beach as a qualifier, one of three players in tournament history who won straight eight matches to hoist the trophy.

The 10-day Delray Beach Open also includes an ATP Champions Tour event featuring an American trio (Mardy Fish, James Blake, Aaron Krickstein) vs an international team (Mark Philippoussis, Greg Rusedski, Sebastien Grosjean).  The legends play February 12-14.

THE 2016 DELRAY BEACH OPEN ATP WORLD TOUR SINGLES ENTRY LIST: Kevin Anderson (RSA), Benjamin Becker (GER), Ricardas Berankis (LTU), Jeremy Chardy (FRA),Thiemo de Bakker (NED), Grigor Dimitrov (BUL), Damir Dzumhur (BIH), Marcel Granollers (ESP), Sam Groth (AUS), Tommy Haas (GER/USA), Steve Johnson (USA), Ivo Karlovic (CRO), Denis Kudla (USA), Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ), Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE), Adrian Mannarino (FRA), Illya Marchenko (UKR), John Millman (AUS), Sam Querrey (USA), Rajeev Ram (USA),Milos Raonic (CAN), Dudi Sela (ISR), Bernard Tomic (AUS), Donald Young (USA)