2013 ATP Bastad, Stuttgart Previews and Predictions
The ATP will do the traditional return to clay after Wimbledon, with a pair of European 250s on the red stuff.
ATP Bastad
SkiStar Swedish Open
ATP World Tour 250
Bastad, Sweden
July 8-July 14, 2013
Prize Money: €433,770
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes)
1: Tomas Berdych
2: Nicolas Almagro
3: Juan Monaco
4: Tommy Robredo
Solid seeds for a 250 event.
First round matchups to watch:
Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky
The 23 year old German, Struff, is at a career high ranking of 115. He seems poised for a main level breakthrough, and his last match was a loss was in the 2nd round of a challenger. Stakhovsky has made a name for himself, this time for on court results rather than off-court commentary, with that huge upset of Roger Federer at Wimbledon. He followed that up with a 3rd round loss. Both players are in respectable form, but I’ll give a slight edge to JL Struff in this one. They have never met before.
Top Half:
Wimbledon quarterfinalist Tomas Berdych returns to the dirt against Martin Alund, who comes off an opening round challenger loss to Pere Riba, or Swedish wild card Markus Eriksson. In the quarters, he could meet 6 seed Viktor Troicki, a qualifier, Thiemo De Bakker or Joao Souza. None of them should be much of a bother.
A rejuvenated Tommy Robredo will enjoy his high seeding by opening with Albert Ramos or a qualifier. Ramos is coming off a bad 2nd round loss to wild card Thomas Fabiano at a clay court challenger in Italy. In the quarters, Tommy R could meet a qualifier, Carlos Berlocq, Horacio Zeballos or Blaz Kavcic. Kavcic had to retire in his last match at a challenger while Zeballos lost in the first round to Ivan Sergeyev at another challenger.
Bottom Half:
Nico Almagro will play Jan Hajek or Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, with Hajek coming off a disappointing 2nd round challenger loss to Maximo Gonzalez. GGL is coming off an opening round loss to Dustin Brown at Wimbledon. After that, Almagro could get a challenging quarterfinal match with a hopefully re-sparked Fernando Verdasco, who showed shades of his 2009 form en route to the Wimbledon quarterfinals and a 5 set loss to Andy Murray. Verdasco has had a poor year until now, but if he can beat wild card Andreas Vinciguerra and the Stakhovsky/Struff winner in the first couple of rounds he may continue to turn it around. The clay h2h between Verdasco and Almagro favors Verdasco 5-2.
Pico Monaco made the 3rd round of Wimbledon and now returns to comfortable clay against Paolo Lorenzi or a qualifier. Lorenzi comes off semis in the Todi Challenger in Italy on clay. The winner of that match will play Jurgen Zopp, Filippo Volandri, Swedish wild card Elias Ymer, or 5 seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Dark Horse: Fernando Verdasco
Dark Horse Verdasco
As mentioned, if Verdasco can continue playing like he did at Wimbledon, keeping the errors down, serving well and whipping his forehand, he will be a force to be reckoned with once again on tour. He has a solid chance to win this tournament and is arguably the most in form player here.
Predictions:
Semis:
Robredo d. Berdych
Verdasco d. Monaco
Robredo has beaten Berdych twice on clay, including at Barcelona this year, and Bastad back in 08, losing once to him on the surface. I don’t see either Robredo or Berdych being troubled before the semis.
Verdasco is in better form than Monaco, though the clay h2h favors Monaco 4-2. Monaco should get to the semis.
Final:
Verdasco d. Robredo
In a possible all-Spanish final, Robredo has the h2h on clay 3-2, including a victory against Verdasco in Bastad back in 2010, but Verdasco once again seems to be in better form. I give him the edge to take the title.
ATP Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Mercedes Cup
ATP World Tour 250
Stuttgart, Germany
July 8-July 14, 2013
Prize Money: €410,200
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes)
1: Tommy Haas
2: Philipp Kohlschreiber
3: Jeremy Chardy
4: Benoit Paire
Some good talent will participate for a 250.
First round matchups to watch:
(8)Martin Klizan vs. Albert Montanes
Klizan has not had the best year as a full timer on the ATP circuit, sporting an 8-16 ATP level record and an 8-17 record overall. Montanes is a positive 12-11 ATP-wise and at the age of 32 is playing some good tennis. Clay is his best surface by far. They have met twice this year, with Klizan winning their meeting in Barcelona and Montanes winning their meeting in Rome. This rubber match should be quality, with an edge to Montanes.
Top Half:
Wimbledon 4th rounder Tommy Haas returns to Germany and will face Ernests Gulbis yet again or Marcel Granollers. After that, he could face Fabio Fognini, the 5 seed, Leo Mayer, a qualifier or Pablo Andujar.
Jeremy Chardy, coming off Wimbledon 3rd round, will play Michael Berrer or Dani Gimeno-Traver and the winner could face Klizan/Montanes, Roberto Bautista-Agut or Tobias Kamke. Kamke lost to Andrey Golubev in the 2nd round of a challenger last. This is a somewhat open section with some streaky players.
Bottom Half:
Philipp Kohlschreiber, who retired from his opening round Wimbledon match because of flu symptoms and general illness, will play a qualifier or Robin Kern and then could meet Braunschweig challenger champ Florian Mayer, Paul-Henri Mathieu or Gael Monfils, who returns to the tour this week after skipping Wimbledon for personal reasons. Mayer-Monfils could be a great round 2 match in what is a difficult section for Kohlschreiber.
Benoit Paire will play a qualifier or Nikolay Davydenko and the winner will face Lukas Rosol, Thomaz Bellucci (back from injury), Victor Hanescu or Dmitry Tursunov. This section is also quite open with streaky players.
Dark Horse: Albert Montanes
If Montanes can beat Klizan, he gets a winnable meeting with Kamke or Bautista-Agut, and Chardy or Gimeno-Traver in the quarters is also winnable. He would be a serious underdog against Tommy Haas in the semis.
Predictions:
Semis:
Haas d. Montanes
Monfils d. Rosol
Haas should ease past Gulbis and Fognini and then beat Montanes. I like Monfils chances coming off a layoff, as he should be well rested and get past Mathieu, Mayer, Kohlschreiber and Rosol. Hanescu and Paire could also make the semis.
Final:
Haas d. Monfils
Haas and Monfils have split career h2h 2-2 and they have split meetings this year, though this is their first on clay in 2013. It should be a tough match, but I’ll give a slight edge to Haas at home in Deutschland.
Tennis Atlantic 