2015 Qatar Exxon Mobil Open

David Ferrer wins first ATP title since February 2014 at Qatar Exxonmobil Open in Doha
Steen Kirby,Tennis Atlantic

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ATP Doha

David Ferrer had slipped down to number 10 in the world before the start of Doha but he captured his first ATP title in eleven months in the desert paradise over an in-form Tomas Berdych 6-4 7-5. Ferrer got off to a strong start, and though Berdych gave him a push in both sets, the Spaniard remained the frontrunner throughout the match and never let Berdych garner enough momentum to take it to a third set.

It was a great week for the Spanish number 2, he survived a stern test from qualifier Thiemo De Bakker in round one, defeating the tiring Dutchman from a set down, before dispatching his countryman Fernando Verdasco and Dustin Brown in straight sets. He was pushed to three tough tiebreaks against the big serving Ivo Karlovic, who reached the semis by shockingly vanquishing world number one Novak Djokovic in the quarters, but prevailed in a third set breaker to reach the final. Djokovic seems to struggle against players whose biggest weapon is their serve, and Karlovic used it masterfully in their quarterfinal match, he passed the 9,000 career aces mark in his career this week in Doha, and is one of the greatest servers the game has ever seen.

Berdych crushed all opposition en route to the final. He earned routine wins over Denis Istomin, Blaz Kavcic, Richard Gasquet, and Andreas Seppi, who snuck into the semifinals partially due to the fact Rafael Nadal was shocked by career journeyman Michael Berrer of Germany, who is retiring at the end of the season, in round 1. Nadal looked to be in control in the first set, but Berrer employed a much more aggressive approach in the next two sets, and the Spaniard played sloppy listless tennis against the inspired German, losing in 3 sets.

Nadal found more success in doubles this week, as he usually does in Doha, his team up with one of his best pals on tour, Juan Monaco, earned them yet another Doha title, this time over Austrians Julian Knowle and Philipp Oswald.

Tennis Atlantic 2015 ATP Draw Challenge Week 1 (Brisbane, Doha, and Chennai)
Staff, Tennis Atlantic

Now that we have a bevy of ATP World Tour experts on staff at Tennis Atlantic, we will be having a weekly ATP pick em draw challenge, with a prize going to the winner at the end of the year. Each of our experts, Steen Kirby, Jeff McMillan, Chris de Waard, Courtney Massey, and Niall Clarke will be submitting their predictions for each ATP tournament draw and once the tournaments conclude we will review how they did compared to the actual results.

Points will be awarded for correct picks with 2 points for first round winners, 4 points for second round winners, and so on, doubling for each round. This week with three 250 level tournaments, the points system will go 2 points for correct first round picks, 4 points for correct quarterfinalists, 8 points for correct semifinalists, 16 points for correct finalists, and 32 points for selecting the correct tournament champion. Best of luck to all of our experts with their picks this week!

Brisbane (draw)

2015 Brisbane International Presented by Suncorp ATP picks

Three of our five experts picked Nishikori as champion, while two have Federer, and four of the five predict a Nishikori vs. Federer final. Only one expert has the semifinalists as anything other than Federer, Dimitrov, Raonic, and Nishikori, this week down under.

Steen Kirby’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Federer vs. Millman, Nieminen vs. Simon, Dimitrov vs. Chardy, Klizan vs. Dolgopolov, Anderson vs. Hewitt, Kukushkin vs. Raonic, Benneteau vs. Tomic, Johnson vs. Nishikori
Quarterfinals: Federer vs. Simon, Dimitrov vs. Klizan, Anderson vs. Raonic, Nishikori vs. Tomic
Semifinals: Federer vs. Dimitrov, Raonic vs. Nishikori
Final: Federer vs. Nishikori
Champion: Nishikori

Jeff McMillan’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Federer vs. Qualifier, Nieminen vs. Simon, Dimitrov vs. Chardy, Klizan vs. Dolgopolov, Anderson vs. Hewitt, Kukushkin vs. Raonic, Kokkinakis vs. Tomic, Johnson vs. Nishikori
Quarterfinals: Federer vs. Simon, Dimitrov vs. Klizan, Anderson vs. Raonic, Nishikori vs. Tomic
Semifinals: Simon vs. Dimitrov, Raonic vs. Nishikori
Final: Dimitrov vs. Nishikori
Champion: Nishikori

Chris de Waard’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Federer vs. Millman, Nieminen vs. Simon, Dimitrov vs. Chardy, Klizan vs. Dolgopolov, Anderson vs. Groth, Kukushkin vs. Raonic, Kokkinakis vs. Tomic, Johnson vs. Nishikori
Quarterfinals: Federer vs. Simon, Dimitrov vs. Dolgopolov, Anderson vs. Raonic, Nishikori vs. Tomic
Semifinals: Federer vs. Dimitrov, Raonic vs. Nishikori
Final: Federer vs. Nishikori
Champion: Federer

Courtney Massey’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Federer vs. Qualifier, Nieminen vs. Duckworth, Dimitrov vs. Chardy, Klizan vs. Dolgopolov, Anderson vs. Hewitt, Qualifier vs. Raonic, Benneteau vs. Tomic, Johnson vs. Nishikori
Quarterfinals: Federer vs. Nieminen, Dimitrov vs. Klizan, Anderson vs. Raonic, Nishikori vs. Benneteau
Semifinals: Federer vs. Dimitrov, Raonic vs. Nishikori
Final: Federer vs. Nishikori
Champion: Federer

Niall Clarke’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Federer vs. Qualifier, Nieminen vs. Simon, Dimitrov vs. Chardy, Klizan vs. Dolgopolov, Anderson vs. Hewitt, Kukushkin vs. Raonic, Benneteau vs. Tomic, Matosevic vs. Nishikori
Quarterfinals: Federer vs. Simon, Dimitrov vs. Klizan, Hewitt vs. Raonic, Nishikori vs. Tomic
Semifinals: Federer vs. Dimitrov, Raonic vs. Nishikori
Final: Federer vs. Nishikori
Champion: Nishikori

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Doha (draw)

2015 Qatar Exxonmobil Open Picks

There is a full consensus on Djokovic taking the Doha title in his tournament debut this week, while our experts are divided 3-2 on whether he will face Berdych or Nadal in that final. When it comes to the semis, there is also a split decision between whether Djokovic will face Kohlschreiber or Ferrer, while everyone seems to agree the 2 and 3 seeds Nadal and Berdych will reach the semis.

Steen Kirby’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Djokovic vs. Stakhovsky, Youzhny vs. Karlovic, Ferrer vs. Verdasco, Brown vs. Kohlschreiber, Gasquet vs. Becker, Berdych vs. Qualifier, Jaziri vs. Mayer, Dodig vs. Nadal
Quarterfinals: Djokovic vs. Karlovic, Ferrer vs. Kohlschreiber, Gasquet vs. Berdych, Mayer vs. Nadal
Semifinals: Djokovic vs. Ferrer, Nadal vs. Berdych
Final: Djokovic vs. Berdych
Champion: Djokovic

Jeff McMillan’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Djokovic vs. Stakhovsky, Youzhny vs. Rosol, Ferrer vs. Verdasco, Brown vs. Kohlschreiber, Gasquet vs. Bolelli, Berdych vs. Monaco, Jaziri vs. Seppi, Dodig vs. Nadal
Quarterfinals: Djokovic vs. Rosol, Ferrer vs. Kohlschreiber, Bolelli vs. Berdych, Seppi vs. Nadal
Semifinals: Djokovic vs. Kohlschreiber, Nadal vs. Berdych
Final: Djokovic vs. Berdych
Champion: Djokovic

Chris de Waard’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Djokovic vs. Stakhovsky, Youzhny vs. Karlovic, Ferrer vs. Gabashvili, Brown vs. Kohlschreiber, Gasquet vs. Bolelli, Berdych vs. Monaco, Souza vs. Mayer, Dodig vs. Nadal
Quarterfinals: Djokovic vs. Karlovic, Ferrer vs. Kohlschreiber, Gasquet vs. Berdych, Mayer vs. Nadal
Semifinals: Djokovic vs. Ferrer, Nadal vs. Berdych
Final: Djokovic vs. Nadal
Champion: Djokovic

Courtney Massey’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Djokovic vs. Stakhovsky, Youzhny vs. Karlovic, Ferrer vs. Verdasco, Brown vs. Kohlschreiber, Andujar vs. Becker, Berdych vs. Qualifier, Seppi vs. Jaziri, Dodig vs. Nadal
Quarterfinals: Djokovic vs. Youzhny, Ferrer vs. Kohlschreiber, Becker vs. Berdych, Seppi vs. Nadal
Semifinals: Djokovic vs. Ferrer, Nadal vs. Berdych
Final: Djokovic vs. Nadal
Champion: Djokovic

Niall Clarke’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Djokovic vs. Stakhovsky, Youzhny vs. Rosol, Ferrer vs. Verdasco, Brown vs. Kohlschreiber, Gasquet vs. Bolelli, Berdych vs. Qualifier, Souza vs. Mayer, Dodig vs. Nadal
Quarterfinals: Djokovic vs. Youzhny, Ferrer vs. Kohlschreiber, Gasquet vs. Berdych, Mayer vs. Nadal
Semifinals: Djokovic vs. Kohlschreiber, Nadal vs. Berdych
Final: Djokovic vs. Nadal
Champion: Djokovic

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Chennai (draw)

2015 Aircel Chennai Open Picks

There are a variety of picks for champion this week among our experts, Goffin and Wawrinka are picked by two experts each, and Bautista Agut was also selected. Three of the five experts have Goffin, and Bautista Agut in the final, while only two have defending champion and top seed Stan Wawrinka. Lu, Garcia-Lopez and Lopez are all picks to reach the semifinals while Chris is predicting a run to the quarterfinals from wild card Ramkumar Ramanathan, and Courtney has some unseeded players reaching the quarterfinals.

Steen Kirby’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Wawrinka vs. Coric, Sijsling vs. Muller, Goffin vs. Berankis, Vesely vs. Granollers, Lu vs. Gonzalez, Gojowcyzk vs. Bautista Agut, Garcia-Lopez vs. Ito, Lacko vs. Lopez
Quarterfinals: Wawrinka vs. Muller, Goffin vs. Vesely, Lu vs. Bautista Agut, Garcia-Lopez vs. Lopez
Semifinals: Wawrinka vs. Goffin, Bautista Agut vs. Lopez
Final: Goffin vs. Bautista Agut
Champion: Bautista Agut

Jeff McMillan’s predictions:

Round 2 Matches: Wawrinka vs. Haase, Ymer vs. Roger-Vasselin, Goffin vs. Berankis, Vesely vs. Granollers, Devvarman vs. Carreno Busta, Falla vs. Bautista Agut, Garcia-Lopez vs. Ito, Lacko vs. Lopez
Quarterfinals: Wawrinka vs. Roger-Vasselin, Goffin vs. Granollers, Devvarman vs. Bautista Agut, Garcia-Lopez vs. Lopez
Semifinals: Wawrinka vs. Goffin, Bautista Agut vs. Garcia-Lopez
Final: Goffin vs. Garcia-Lopez
Champion: Goffin

Chris de Waard’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Wawrinka vs. Coric, Ymer vs. Roger-Vasselin, Goffin vs. Berankis, Vesely vs. Granollers, Lu vs. Carreno Busta, Gojowczyk vs. Bautista Agut, Qualifier vs. Ramanathan, Lacko vs. Lopez
Quarterfinals: Wawrinka vs. Roger-Vasselin, Goffin vs. Granollers, Lu vs. Bautista Agut, Ramanathan vs. Lopez
Semifinals: Wawrinka vs. Goffin, Bautista Agut vs. Lopez
Final: Goffin vs. Bautista Agut
Champion: Goffin

Courtney Massey’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Wawrinka vs. Coric, Sijsling vs. Roger-Vasselin, Goffin vs. Qualifier, Vesely vs. Granollers, Lu vs. Gonzalez, Falla vs. Bautista Agut, Ito vs. Qualifier, Lacko vs. Lopez
Quarterfinals: Wawrinka vs. Sijsling, Goffin vs. Vesely, Gonzalez vs. Bautista Agut, Ito vs. Lopez
Semifinals: Wawrinka vs. Goffin, Bautista Agut vs. Lopez
Final: Wawrinka vs. Lopez
Champion: Wawrinka

Niall Clarke’s predictions

Round 2 Matches: Wawrinka, Coric, Sijsling, Roger-Vasselin, Goffin, Berankis, Qualifier, Granollers, Lu, Carreno Busta, Falla, Bautista Agut, Garcia-Lopez, Ito, Lacko, Lopez
Quarterfinals: Wawrinka vs. Roger-Vasselin, Goffin vs. Granollers, Lu vs. Bautista Agut, Garcia-Lopez vs. Lopez
Semifinals: Wawrinka vs. Lu, Bautista Agut vs. Lopez
Final:Wawrinka vs. Bautista Agut
Champion: Wawrinka

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