2013 USTA Pro Circuit Tiburon Challenger Preview, Predictions
Steen Kirby, Tennis East Coast
The USTA Pro Circuit continues its California swing with a 100k event in Tiburon on hard courts. Here’s your preview.
First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger
USTA Pro Circuit
Tiburon,CA,USA
October 7-October 13, 2013
Prize Money: $100,000
Top 8 seeds
1: Denis Kudla
2: Tim Smyczek
3: Matt Ebden
4: Alex Kuznetsov
5: Rajeev Ram
6: Rhyne Williams
7: Donald Young
8: Bradley Klahn
Identical seeds as the event last week in Sacramento.
First round matchups to watch:
(3)Matt Ebden vs. Filip Peliwo
Matt Ebden has been in good form post US Open, reaching the semis, finals, and quarterfinals in his last 3 events. Peliwo meanwhile is moving up the rankings at 19, and is nearly inside the top 250 now. This year he has one challenger semifinal, and a host of good results at the futures level, including one futures title last month. Ebden has more experience and good form, but Peliwo could pull off the upset and continue his rise.
(6)Rhyne Williams vs. Nick Kyrgios
Williams lost in the first round of Sacramento to Dan Evans, while Kyrgios comes off semis in the same event. Both are up and coming players with plenty of talent and this could go either way, but I think Kyrgios will continue to work his way up the rankings and grab a win.
Top Half:
Denis Kudla, who is struggling a bit, is coming off a first round loss in Sacramento. He’ll open with wild card Mitchell Frank, and if he wins, he sees James McGee or Austin Krajicek in the second round. In the quarters, one of Steve Johnson/JP Smith/Daniel Nguyen/Rajeev Ram awaits and they could all use a good result.
Ebden/Peliwo will play either wild card Marcos Giron or Sam Groth, a Sacramento quarterfinalist, in round 2. The winner will get one of Williams/Kyrgios/Ben Mitchell/Qualifier in the quarters in what is a very open section.
Bottom Half:
Sacramento finalist Tim Smyczek will open with Matt Reid, while Denys Molchanov/Salvatore Caruso await on deck. Smyczek could perhaps get a Sacramento final rematch with Donald Young in the quarters.
Young is in good form and needs wins over a qualifier and Peter Gojowczyk/Dan Evans to reach that point.
Alex Kuznetsov will face Jarmere Jenkins, who comes off semis in Sacramento, while Kuznetsov lost in round 1 of the same event. If Kuznetsov wins, he could get a rematch with Peter Polansky, who bested him in Sacramento. Polansky just has to beat wild card Campbell Johnson.
The quarterfinalist from this section will face Bradley Klahn, a pair of qualifiers or Tennys Sandgren in the quarters.
Predictions
Semis:
Ebden d. Ram
Smyczek d. Klahn
Final:
Ebden d. Smyczek
Tennis Atlantic 