Tennis Atlantic

2013 ATP Marseille, Buenos Aires Previews
Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com

We’ve been busy with Memphis, but there are actually two other events on the ATP World Tour this: an indoor hard 250 in Marseille, France and another clay court 250 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

ATP Marseille

Open 13

ATP World Tour 250

Marseille, France

February 18-February 24, 2013

Prize Money: €528, 135

Top 4 seeds (Who all receive first round byes):

1: Tomas Berdych

2: Juan Martin Del Potro

3: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

4: Janko Tipsarevic

Marseille has a star-studded field, especially for a 250 with the top 5 seeds all top 10 players.

First round matchups to watch:

(8) Martin Klizan vs. Bernard Tomic

Klizan showed some strong play this week and made the quarterfinals in Rotterdam, proving yet again he can be a very dangerous player indoors with the amount of power and touch he can show off. He will get an interesting match with Tomic, who dropped a 3 setter to eventual semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov in Rotterdam, but should be in better shape after getting that match in.

Top Half:

Tomas Berdych will return to action this week against the winner of Ernests Gulbis/Jarkko Nieminen and that could pose him a bit of trouble as Nieminen comes off quarterfinals in Rotterdam and is having a great month of February.

The winner could face Jerzy Janowicz, the 7 seed, who was disappointing in Rotterdam losing in the 1st round to the aging journeyman Victor Hanescu.

Also in this section is current Rotterdam finalist and possible champion Julien Benneteau, who should be buzzing after knocking off Roger Federer. He opens with Lucas Pouille while Janowicz opens with Lukas Rosol.

Janko Tipsarevic will play a qualifier, then possibly get a showdown meeting with Montpellier champ Richard Gasquet, who opens with Gilles Muller and then possibly a Montpellier rematch with Gael Monfils (who plays Marcel Granollers first round).

Bottom Half:

Defending champ Juan Martin Del Potro, also still in the running for the Rotterdam title as a finalist, opens with Montpellier semifinalist Michael Llodra or a severely slumping David Goffin. Goff was bageled in his last match and has only won 1 ATP match this year.

Del Potro could then get a rematch with Gilles Simon, if Simon makes the finals in Rotterdam and beats Robin Haase and a qualifier or Roberto Bautista-Agut in Marseille.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who was knocked off in the opening round of Rotterdam, will play a qualifier or Nikolay Davydenko. Afterward, he could get a US Open rematch with Martin Klizan, who upset him there. That’s dependent on Klizan beating Tomic and then Montpellier finalist Benoit Paire, who opens with Somdev Devvarman.

Pretty much every section of this draw is stacked with talent.

Dark Horse: Benoit Paire

Paire was a solid finalist in Montpellier, though he is coming off a 1st round loss in Rotterdam that can likely be chalked up to fatigue. He has a good draw opening with Devvarman, then getting the unpredictable Tomic, or Klizan. Klizan is very dangerous but had to retire in the 3rd set of his quarterfinal match in Rotterdam, which raises questions about his current stamina level.  If Paire gets past that, he likely gets the unpredictable Tsonga, who he will be an underdog given the 0-2 head to head record. In short, this is a section of very streaky players and hopefully Paire will be the one on a hot streak among them.

Predictions:

Semis:

Gasquet d. Berdych

Del Potro d. Tsonga

Berdych is well rested and should be good through the quarter assuming he doesn’t trip up against Nieminen in the 2nd round. Gasquet, who should get past Tipsarevic in the quarters, has a slight edge on Berdych, given his hot form and a 4-2 head to head record.

Tsonga should edge past Paire in the quarters, while Del Potro may be tired but still has a somewhat weak section and I don’t see anyone threatening him. Simon has played the same amount of tennis recently, same goes with the edge over Tsonga who he has beaten five times, losing only twice.

Final:

Del Potro d. Gasquet

Del Potro may be a bit worn out, but he won all 3 meetings last year against Gasquet, including last year in Marseille and though Gasquet is playing great, the tower of Tandil should have a leg up.

ATP Buenos Aires

Copa Claro

ATP World Tour 250

Buenos Aires, Argentina

February 18-February 24, 2013

Prize Money: $493,670

Top 4 seeds: NO BYES

1: David Ferrer

2: Nicolas Almagro

3: Stanislas Wawrinka

4: Thomaz Bellucci

First round matchups to watch:

Carlos Berlocq vs. David Nalbandian

Berlocq has made the semis and the quarters in his last two tournaments on the Golden Swing and is playing quite well. He will take on current Sao Paulo finalist David Nalbandian, who has been a surprise in his return to ATP action. This should be a rowdy all Argentine battle and a lot of fun with some excellent clay court grinding, Nalbandian won this matchup when they met last year in the quarters of this event.

Top Half:

Defending champ David Ferrer will start his efforts to repeat against wild card Agustin Velotti before the Berlocq/Nalbandian winner. In the quarters he could get Fabio Fognini, who was bounced out of Sao Paulo in disappointing fashion, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo or a qualifier. This is a somewhat decent looking draw for the top ranked Spaniard.

Thomaz Bellucci, who also got bounced out of Sao Paulo in a frustrated manner, opens with Diego Sebastian Schwartzman before meeting a qualifier or Tommy Robredo. Sao Paulo semifinalist Martin Alund, who has all of a  sudden found a good run of play, opens with a qualifier then could play Vina Del Mar champ Horacio Zeballos if he can beat Aljaz Bedene. Zeballos is the likely favorite in this section.

Bottom Half:

Sao Paulo quarterfinalist and last year’s Copa Clara finalist Nicolas Almagro will play Guido Pella, a home favorite who is at a career high ranking of 92 and just earned his first ATP match win in Sao Paulo. The winner gets Sao Paulo quarterfinalist Filippo Volandri or Andrey Kuznetsov, who is struggling right now. In the quarters it could be Pablo Andujar, who plays Albert Montanes, Joao Sousa or Federico Del Bonis.

Stanislas Wawrinka starts his clay court efforts against Paolo Lorenzi and Daniel Gimeno-Traver or a qualifier. Next, he could face Albert Ramos, Flavio Cipolla, Leonardo Mayer or more likely Simone Bolleli, who made the semis in Sao Paulo. It’s a good looking draw for Stan.

Dark Horse: Federico Del Bonis

The 22 year old Argentine ranked just outside the top 120 in the world is actually playing quite well this year, excluding a loss to Rafael Nadal in Vina as a qualifier. He also won a clay court challenger in Colombia and clay is his best surface by far.

He has a good draw with a lot of average and out of form players including Sousa and Montanes or Andujar before a quarterfinal test with Almagro, who is iffy as of late.

Predictions:

Semis:

Ferrer d. Zeballos

Wawrinka d. Almagro

Ferrer should be good enough to outwork Zeballos, though it could be close, and Wawrinka will hopefully be in fresh form and take out Almagro after a pretty weak early draw. They met in the 2012 semis and it was Almagro who prevailed.

Final:

Ferrer d. Wawrinka

Ferrer has a 6-3 head to head record and a solid game on clay. He would be the favorite if this final comes to fruition.