2017 ATP Kitzbuhel

All posts tagged 2017 ATP Kitzbuhel

Kohlschreiber Caps Off Clay Season With Kitzbuhel Title, Querrey Doubles Up in Mexico

Posted by Admin on August 8, 2017
Posted in: ATP, Kitzbuhel, Los Cabos, Steen Kirby. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Kohlschreiber Caps Off Clay Season With Kitzbuhel Title, Querrey Doubles Up in Mexico
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

ATP Kitzbuhel

Philipp Kohlschreiber won ATP title #8, and Kitzbuhel title #2 6-3 6-4 over Joao Sousa in the final. The veteran German dropped sets against Facundo Bagnis and Dusan Lajovic, scraping past Lajovic in a third set tiebreak. He defeated Jiri Vesely and semifinalist Fabio Fognini in straights though to finish the season 12-6 on clay, and hoping for a bit more on summer hard courts coming up.

Sousa continues his reputation as a streaky player, he’s lost two 250 level finals this season, but had a remarkable week just to reach the final. He was on the ropes in every match, as he dropped the first set against Mikhail Youzhny, Paolo Lorenzi, and Gerald Melzer before narrowly defeating Sebastian Ofner in straight sets. Ofner is a rising player and should be on the ATP level soon given his ability.

Pablo Cuevas and Guillermo Duran saved a match point to defeat  Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrei Vasilevski in the doubles final.

ATP Los Cabos

It was another special week down in Mexico for Sam Querrey, as he took both of the ATP titles on offer in the country this season. Querrey served past Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3 3-6 6-2. The result puts Querrey on the edge of reaching his wins title from last season with months to go on in the season. Querrey beat Evan King, Vincent Millot, and Damir Dzumhur as well this week, coming from a set down against Dzumhur, and beating King in three sets. Kokkinakis looked great finally after a long time off of the tour with injury. The talented young Aussie beat Frances Tiafoe, Peter Polansky, Taylor Fritz, and Tomas Berdych, his wins over Polansky and Berdych coming from a set down, as he showed a ton of heart and fight on the week.

In the doubles Juan Sebastian Cabal and Treat Huey beat Sergio Galdos and Roberto Maytin,

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2017 ATP Kitzbuhel Preview and Predictions

Posted by Admin on July 31, 2017
Posted in: ATP, Kitzbuhel, Steen Kirby. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2017 ATP Kitzbuhel Preview and Predictions
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

ATP Kitzbuhel is on the calendar once again, and it’s a 250 level opportunity for some of the best dirtballers in tennis.

Generali Open
ATP World Tour 250
Kitzbuhel, Austria
July 31-August 5, 2017
Surface: Clay
Prize Money: €482,060

Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes) (ATP rankings in parentheses)
1: Pablo Cuevas (26)
2: Fabio Fognini (31)
3: Paolo Lorenzi (36)
4: Gilles Simon (39)

Kitzbuhel attracts a solid group of dirtballers this year.

Top Half:

Pablo Cuevas, 14-9 on clay this year, is on a three match losing streak that he should break against either Nikoloz Basilashvili or Sebastian Ofner. With Basilashvili playing poorly, I have Ofner pulling an upset at home before falling to Cuevas. Hamburg semifinalist Federico Delbonis should defeat Renzo Olivo. Horacio Zeballos or Rogerio Dutra Silva will follow, presuming Delbonis isn’t fatigued, he should reach the quarters before falling to Cuevas.

Paolo Lorenzi reached the final in Umag, he should beat Joao Sousa or Mikhail Youzhny in round 2. Sousa found a bit of form last week in Gstaad, but Lorenzi is the best player on clay in his section. Wild card Gerald Melzer should defeat a struggling Carlos Berlocq. Melzer comes off a challenger final, Gstaad semifinalist Robin Haase has never beaten qualifier Santiago Giraldo, but he should reach the quarterfinal with wins over Giraldo and Melzer, before falling to Lorenzi.

Bottom Half:

Gstaad champion Fabio Fognini should beat either Andrey Kuznetsov or Milijan Zekic. Kuznetsov is a dark horse, but I’ll back Fognini’s form. Jan-Lennard Struff faces a struggling Tommy Haas, Alexandr Dolgopolov could catch fire and beat him round 2, after defeating a struggling Thomaz Bellucci, but I have Struff falling to Fognini in the quarterfinals.

Gilles Simon is struggling, but he’s the favorite against Dusan Lajovic or the steadily improving Max Marterer. Jiri Vesely has reached consecutive ATP quarterfinals. Vesely opens with Gstaad finalist Yannick Hanfmann, who should be out of gas. Philipp Kohlschreiber or Facundo Bagnis await in round 2, Kohlschreiber’s health is in question, thus Vesely is my favorite to go as far as the semifinals, upsetting Simon in the quarters.

Dark Horse: Andrey Kuznetsov

Kuznetsov is talented enough to upset a tired Fognini and make a run all the way to the final, I don’t predict it, but he’s the most dangerous non-seeded player in the draw this week.

Predictions

Semis
Lorenzi d. Cuevas
Vesely d. Fognini

It’s anyone’s title in Kitzbuhel this week, but I favor the Italian dirtballer Lorenzi to grab a key title.

Final
Lorenzi d. Vesely