2013 ATP Brisbane, Chennai, Doha Previews
Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com
The three maiden ATP events of the year will be getting underway shortly and hopes and dreams begin anew for the world’s top male tennis pros as they set out on a new year of competition.
ATP Brisbane
Brisbane International
ATP World Tour 250
Brisbane, Australia
December 30-January 6, 2013
Prize money $436,630
Brisbane, a joint ATP/WTA event, boasts the strongest field of the tournaments this week. Many of the best players like to start their year and their preparation for the Australian Open in Australia.
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes)
1: Andy Murray
2: Milos Raonic
3: Gilles Simon
4: Alexandr Dolgopolov
1st round matchups to watch:
(wc)Lleyton Hewitt vs. Radek Stepanek
Home favorite Lleyton Hewitt comes off a bit of a flat year in 2012 and could use some mojo in this early part of the season while playing at home. The bad news for him is that he drew fellow wily veteran Radek Stepanek, who helped lead the Czech Republic to glory in the Davis Cup and is likely still buzzing from that. It could be a washout match or a battle depending on the form of both players.
Julien Benneteau vs. Jarkko Nieminen
“Benny” Benneteau and “the flying Fin” Nieminen are both streaky veterans who have played very well in this early part of the season before. In fact, they met in the ATP Sydney final last year where Nieminen triumphed for his lone ATP title of 2012. Both guys will have an axe to grind in this one.
Top Half:
Andy Murray made his way from an exhibition in Dubai down to Brisbane and will be looking to defend his title. He’ll open with Tatsuma Ito or a qualifier (Brisbane has a very strong qualifying draw). Then he’d meet the winner of Hewitt/Stepanek or the 8 seed Martin Klizan, who will be looking to continue strong play after a breakthrough year in 2012. Klizan opens with Denis Istomin.
The hopefully in form Dolgopolov will get a tricky match against the winner of Nieminen/Benneteau and whoever gets through that likely faces 5 seed Kei Nishikori. Nishikori opens with the highest ranked Australian player, Marinko Matosevic.
Bottom Half:
Milos Raonic will look to bring his big game against the winner of Brian Baker/Grigor Dimitrov and then could face 7 seed Jurgen Melzer, David Goffin, or Aussie Matt Ebden (who got a wild card). It looks to be a good draw for the Canadian.
Gilles Simon will open with Alejandro Falla or a qualifier and then could face 6 seed Florian Mayer or more likely Marcos Baghdatis, who is always dangerous on hard courts, even while unseeded.
Dark Horse: Marcos Baghdatis
Baghdatis did not have a great year in 2012 but he has a record of success on hard courts and a draw that looks good if he does not trip up. He opens with rising Aussie youngster Ben Mitchell, a wild card, followed by the winner of Mayer/Giraldo. After that, he’d be looking at 3 seed Simon in the quarters. All those matches are winnable.
Predictions:
Semis:
Murray d. Nishikori
Raonic d. Baghdatis
Final:
Murray d. Raonic
You never know with Murray, but he should be able to retain his title unless Raonic really comes to play.
ATP Chennai
Aircel Chennai Open
ATP World Tour 250
Chennai, India
December 31-January 6, 2013
Prize Money: $385,150
Chennai will not get as much attention as the other events this week, but it still boasts a strong field with the top four seeds all ranked in the top 20.
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes)
1: Tomas Berdych
2: Janko Tipsarevic
3: Marin Cilic
4: Stanislas Wawrinka
Top Half:
Tomas Berdych will kick off his 2013 season against either Jan Hajek or wild card Somdev Devvarman, and would thne do battle vs. 7 seed Yen-Hsun Lu, Blaz Kavic, Roberto Batista-Agut or Lu’s first round opponent, Matthias Bachinger.
Marin Cilic opens with Sergiy Stakhovsky or a qualifier and then could face 5 seed Benoit Paire, Flavio Cipolla, Dudi Sela, or a qualifier.
Bottom Half:
Janko Tipsarevic, who along with Berdych played in the Dubai exhibition, will face either Andrey Kuznetsov or Edouard Roger-Vasselin then likely draws 8 seed Go Soeda, Evgeny Donskoy, a qualifier or Guillaume Rufin.
Stan Wawrinka opens with Igor Sijsling or a qualifier and afterward another Dutchman, Robin Haase. Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia is also a possible opponent.
Dark Horse: Aljaz Bedene
The 23 year old Bedene has had most of his success at the challenger level but will be looking to have a breakthrough year in 2013, as he is ranked inside the top 100 at 86. He benefits from a good draw, facing Joao Sousa in the 1st round and probably Robin Haase after that. The Chennai field is very top heavy, so it isn’t likely that a dark horse will emerge, but Bedene could be it.
Predictions:
Semis:
Berdych d. Cilic
Tipsarevic d. Wawrinka
Final:
Berdych d. Tipsarevic
All four of these guys have had success at this event before, but Berdych looks like the man to beat. Tipsarevic, who came up short in the final last year, will likely do so again.
ATP Doha
Qatar ExxonMobil Open
ATP World Tour 250
Doha, Qatar
December 31-January 6, 2013
Prize Money $1,054,720
Doha is usually a stellar event, but was weakened by the withdraw of Rafael Nadal and the fact Roger Federer isn’t playing at this event this year. It will still feature some great tennis in the oasis of the desert.
Top 4 seeds
1: David Ferrer
2: Richard Gasquet
3: Phillip Kohlschreiber
4: Mikhail Youzhny
First round matchups to watch:
Gael Monfils vs (wc)Mousa Shanan Zayed
The last time injury-plagued Monfils took the court in an ATP event, he lost to world number 436 Patrik Rosenholm in Stockholm. Following that loss, in which he was obviously struggling with his injury he called it a season and now plans to start the year anew. His ranking has dropped precipitously to 77 and he faces another local wild card player in the 1st round. If Monfils is even close to 80% for this match he should cruise, but if he is still having issues another upset could occur.
Top Half:
David Ferrer, another player who participated in the Dubai exo, will open with a qualifier, then Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo or another qualifier. Then he could face 8 seed Pablo Andujar, another fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos, Lukas Rosol or Paolo Lorenzi.
Mikhail Youzhny opens with fellow tour veteran Benjamin Becker and then could face more vets in the form of Victor Hanescu or countryman Nikolay Davydenko. 7 seed Feliciano Lopez is waiting in the wings and will open with Lukasz Kubot then Simone Bolleli or Daniel-Gimeno Traver in a field heavy with Spanish players.
Richard Gasquet opens with a qualifier followed by a dangerous Grega Zemlja, or Fabio Fognini. After that he is likely to face 6 seed Viktor Troicki but could also meet Bjorn Phau, Lukas Lacko or Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Phillip Kohlschreiber finished 2012 in a bad slump after upsetting John Isner at the US Open. He’ll look to get back in the groove against Ivan Dodig, followed by the winner of Monfils/Zayed. The winner of that will likely face the big serving Jeremy Chardy, who opens with a qualifier and then a wild card.
Dark Horse: Jeremy Chardy
Chardy is a pretty decent hard court player and gets a really lucky draw– having to face only a qualifier and an unknown local wild card in his first two matches before probably dueling Kohlschreiber or possibly Monfils. Those last two are a couple of guys who are in unsure form at the moment. If he plays well enough he could find himself in the semis or even the final.
Predictions:
Semis:
Ferrer d. Lopez
Gasquet d. Chardy
Final:
Ferrer d. Gasquet
Ferrer shouldn’t have much trouble grabbing the title here as Gasquet is another inconsistent player.
And with that it was a pleasure previewing the first ATP events of the year, I’m also looking into doing some stuff on challengers once those start up.
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