Tennis Atlantic

2013 ATP Barcelona, Bucharest Previews
Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com

ATP Barcelona
Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell
ATP World Tour 500
Barcelona, Spain
April 22-April 28, 2013
Prize Money: €2,166,875

Top 8 seeds (who all receive first round byes)

1: David Ferrer
2: Rafael Nadal
3: Tomas Berdych
4: Nicolas Almagro
5: Milos Raonic
6: Kei Nishikori
7: Juan Monaco
8: Phillip Kohlschreiber

Actually, the top 16 seeds all get 1st round byes.

First round matchups to watch:

Robin Haase vs. (wc)Pablo Carreno-Busta

Haase has been inconsistent recently, like making the quarters in Casablanca but losing in the 1st round of Monte Carlo. He will take on Spaniard Carreno-Busta, who has only lost twice this year and got a much deserved wild card into this event. Carreno-Busta is good on clay and has a great all around game. His only glaring weakness is his serve and he will have a great chance at an upset here.

Top Half:

David Ferrer will play Denis Istomin or Dmitry Tursunov before facing Thomaz Bellucci or the Haase/Carreno-Busta winner. In the quarters it could be Casablanca finalist Martin Klizan, Ricardas Berankis/Albert Montanes, Igor Sijsling/Andrey Kuznetsov or Phillip Kohlschreiber, who won a couple of matches in Monte Carlo which hopefully boosted his confidence.

Nicolas Almagro will play Aljaz Bedene or Ivan Dodig and then Alejandro Falla/Blaz Kavcic or Marcel Granollers. Juan Monaco will take on Kenny De Schepper or Bernard Tomic prior to meeting Paolo Lorenzi, Guillaume Rufin or Jeremy Chardy.

Bottom Half:

Rafael Nadal will look to bounce back from his Monte Carlo final loss against Carlos Berlocq or Daniel Gimeno-Traver and then could play Benoit Paire, Pablo Andujar or Grega Zemlja. In the quarters, Kei Nishikori, Guillermo Olaso/Gerard Granollers, Albert Ramos/Jan-Lennard Struff or Jerzy Janowicz are all options.

Tomas Berdych will play Roberto Carballes Baena or Nikolay Davydenko before a showdown with Casablanca champ Tommy Robredo, qualifier Marc Lopez (the doubles specialist who is playing singles this week) or Monte Carlo quarterfinalist Grigor Dimitrov.

Milos Raonic will play Jan Hajek or Edouard Roger-Vasselin and the winner of that will play Radek Stepanek/Ernests Gulbis or Fernando Verdasco.

Dark Horse: Jan Hajek

The 29-year-old Czech is at his best on clay and qualified. He will take on Edouard Roger-Vasselin before a great chance to upset Milos Raonic, who struggles on clay. After that, he will likely face Ernests Gulbis in a tough match or he could play a still slumping Fernando Verdasco. Quarters or better is possible for Hajek, but a meeting with Berdych or Dimitrov in the quarters would be quite challenging.

Predictions:

Semis:

Ferrer d. Almagro

Nadal d. Dimitrov

Ferrer should beat Kohlschreiber in the quarters and is usually better than his countryman Almagro, who should battle with Monaco in the quarters.

Nadal has very little in his way en route to the semis and a rematch with Dimitrov would be quite entertaining. Dimitrov just needs to get past Robredo and Berdych.

Final:

Nadal d. Ferrer

Nadal should beat his Spanish rival once again.

ATP Bucharest
BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy
ATP World Tour 250
Bucharest, Romania
April 22-April 28, 2013
Prize Money: €467,800

Top 4 seeds (Who all receive first round byes)

1: Janko Tipsarevic
2: Gilles Simon
3: Andreas Seppi
4: Mikhail Youzhny

First round matchups to watch:

(6) Fabio Fognini vs. (WC) Gael Monfils

Fognini was a shocking semifinalist in Monte Carlo and showed his range on clay. He will take on a struggling Monfils, who still has not found a solid footing since his return to the tour from injury issues. Both players are showmen and shot makers and both are motivated. This should be a joy to watch. In one memorable previous meeting, they played at the French Open in the dark.

Jarkko Nieminen vs. Evgeny Donskoy

The veteran flying Fin made the quarters in MC and he’ll take on the young Russian Donskoy, who is talented but inconsistent at this point in his career. This match could go either way and the ball striking should be excellent in this one as both players are very clean hitters.

Top Half:

Janko Tipsarevic is playing poorly right now and will try to right the ship against Xavier Malisse or Santiago Giraldo. The winner could play a pair of qualifiers, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or Horacio Zeballos.

Mikhail Youzhny, who pushed Novak Djokovic in 3 sets in MC. Youzhny will face Victor Hanescu or a qualifier followed by Adrian Ungur, David Goffin, a qualifier or Florian Mayer.

Bottom Half:

3 time champion Gilles Simon, who lost in the 1st round of MC, will play the Donskoy/Nieminen winner, followed by Fognini/Monfils, Tatsuma Ito or Daniel Brands.

Andreas Seppi will take on Gilles Muller or Lukas Rosol before facing Marinko Matosevic, Viktor Troicki, Tobias Kamke or Paul Henri Mathieu.

Dark Horse: Horacio Zeballos

Zeballos is above .500 for the year and plays his best on clay. He lost first round in Monte Carlo but has shown his talent at various times this year. He is in the quarter with a struggling Tipsarevic and a host of other below average and inconsistent players such as Garcia-Lopez. Thus, the semis are very possible for the Argentine and possibly further given the players in the section below are quite inconsistent.

Predictions:

Semis:

Youzhny d. Zeballos

Nieminen d. Seppi

Youzhny has a weak section and should be able to advance to the final while Nieminen, who could also be considered a dark horse, should get past Donskoy, upset Simon and then beat Fognini and Seppi in the toughest section. Seppi should have no issues advancing to the semis in such a porous section.

Final:

Nieminen d. Youzhny

They haven’t played since 2008 and Youzhny has a 3-1 edge, but they have never met on clay and Nieminen is playing better right now.