Borna Coric and Steve Johnson Kickoff 2017 ATP Clay Court Season With Titles Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
ATP Marrakech
After struggling to start the season, in large part due to rust from injury, Borna Coric is finding form once again and he showed some of his best tennis this week in Morocco, as he took home a maiden ATP title in Marrakech on clay. The 20 year old was pushed to three sets in three matches this week, and had to save match points against his veteran opponent Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final, but after reaching the final for the second straight year, he simply not be denied the trophy, digging deep on pressure points, while Kohlschreiber crumbled. Coric took the final 5-7 7-6 7-5 after beating Jiri Vesely in straight sets in the semis. He beat Diego Schwartzman in straights in round 1, but then needed three sets against Reda El Amrani and Albert Ramos-Vinolas in rounds 2 and 3.
The veteran Kohlschreiber made his first final of the season with wins over Jan-Lennard Struff, Jeremy Chardy, and Benoit Paire, dropping sets to his first two opponents before routining Paire. Kohlschreiber has had an awful time closing matches out when he has a match point this season, and it’s cost him big victories, such as the trophy that was on offer today.
Dominic Inglot and Mate Pavic teamed up to beat Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez to take the doubles final in an upset.
ATP Houston
The crop of top American men continue to show improvements this season, Steve Johnson claimed a second career ATP title and his first on American soil with a narrow three set victory over Thomaz Bellucci 6-4 4-6 7-6. Johnson posted his best results of the season, and he reached the final by virtue of defeating defending champion Jack Sock in the semifinals, that win coming in three sets, along with wins over Dustin Brown and Fernando Verdasco in previous rounds. Johnson is not at his best on European clay, but should be a notable contender in the grass court season this summer.
A big hitter like Johnson, Bellucci had long matches all week, and was able to win them up until the final where he cracked under pressure. The 32 year old reached his first ATP final in more than a year with three set wins over Frances Tiafoe, Maximo Gonzalez, Sam Querrey, and Ernesto Escobedo, yet another American who has reached a high water mark this year, Escobedo is safely inside the top 100 after his result, which included a quarterfinal victory over a struggling John Isner.
Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos beat the exciting pairing of Dustin Brown and Frances Tiafoe in the doubles final by virtue of a third set super tiebreak.
2017 ATP Marrakech Preview and Predictions Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
The 2017 European clay court season begins with a 250 stop in Marrakech, Morocco, North Africa’s only ATP tournament. Here is your preview with predictions.
Grand Prix Hassan II
ATP World Tour 250
Marrakech, Morocco
April 10-16, 2017
Surface: Clay
Prize Money: €482,060
Top 4 seeds (Who all receive first round byes) (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Grigor Dimitrov (12)
2: Albert Ramos-Vinolas (24)
3: Philipp Kohlschreiber (32)
4: Mischa Zverev (33)
Just one elite player in the field for this 250 but it’s far from the weakest tournament played at this level.
First round matchups to watch:
(6)Benoit Paire vs. Carlos Berlocq
A great opportunity for Paire, if he can continue his momentum from a challenger final on clay this past week, he could have a good showing in this 250. Berlocq is a solid dirtballer, but far from elite, he’ll grind away, hoping for a win, but Paire’s talent should edge it.
Malek Jaziri vs. Jeremy Chardy
Jaziri has had a great 2017 thus far and posted solid results in both hard court Masters, he’s not playing far from home but clay is not his favorite surface. Chardy played well in Davis Cup and presuming he’s still fresh and fit he looks set to win this match and perhaps go much farther than that.
(7)Diego Schwartzman vs. Borna Coric
Both players are talented on clay, Coric probably has more upside with his game, but Schwartzman has been steadily competitive for a while now. Coric is slowly working his way into form after a slow start to the season and is defending finals points in this tournament. Schwartzman is not a great opponent to have to face in round 1, and the Argentine should notch a win here.
Grigor Dimitrov has gotten off to a roaring start this season and should be set to defeat either former champ Tommy Robredo or qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky in round 2. Paire should follow, presuming Paire beats Berlocq and Radu Albot/Nicolas Almagro. Almagro is struggling, and although Dimitrov was abnormally poor last year on clay, he looks to be a different player this season, more well-rounded than Paire.
Philipp Kohlschreiber will face Chardy/Jaziri in round 2, a happier opponent for him than the top 10 losses he’s suffered in recent outings. Kohli is solid on clay and should also defeat qualifier Taro Daniel in the quarters. Daniel has won seven straight matches now, he’ll open with J.L. Struff, with either a struggling Marcel Granollers or young wild card Amine Ahouda to follow.
Bottom Half:
Albert Ramos-Vinolas should face former champion Martin Klizan in round 2, presuming Klizan defeats qualifier Laslo Djere. Ramos comes off of Davis Cup duty and is solid on clay. Presuming he’s fresh, he should edge past a streaky Klizan before running into defending champion Federico Delbonis. Delbonis opens with local wild card Reda El Amrani, with Schwartzman/Coric to follow, that round 2 match could decide the tournament winner, and perhaps could feature a finals rematch from last year if it’s Coric vs. Delbonis. That said I like Delbonis form to win his first three matches, also defeating Ramos in the quarters.
Paolo Lorenzi struggled in Davis Cup action and now will face off with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, a former champion who he has struggled against. I have GGL winning that contest, and also defeating another former champion Paul-Henri Mathieu (or qualifier Gianluigi Quinzi) to reach the quarterfinals opposite Jiri Vesely. Vesely should beat Nikoloz Basilashvili and also Mischa Zverev, who is not at his best on clay. I have Garcia-Lopez as the semifinalist in this section.
Dark Horse: Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
The unseeded Garcia-Lopez looks set to take advantage of a weak section and beat both Lorenzi and Zverev/Vesely to reach the semifiinals. He’ll have a tough contest with Delbonis or Schwartzman in the semis, but it’s not out of the question he could suddenly find form and take this title, he’s done it before.
Predictions
Semis Dimitrov d. Kohlschreiber
Delbonis d. Garcia-Lopez
Kohli has a great shot at this title but I’m backing Dimitrov this tournament, Delbonis is also a favorite to reach the final.
32 year old Argentine veteran Juan Monaco won his eight ATP title overall, and his first since 2012, when he defeated Jack Sock 3-6 6-3 7-5 for his second ATP Houston title. Monaco was ranked outside of the top 100, and hasn’t been much of a factor on the ATP tour in quite some time, but he found form on a familiar clay court surface to earn wins over Gerald Melzer, Benoit Paire, Sam Querrey, and Feliciano Lopez, along with Sock. A rather tough path for just an ATP 250. It will be interesting to see if Monaco can stay in the top 100 this year, and make further waves throughout the clay court season.
Sock is now 0-2 in finals this season, but he did beat Matt Barton, Marcos Baghdatis, and American #1 John Isner in the semifinals. His win over Isner will further aid his chances of becoming the top ranked American by the year’s end.
The legendary Bryan Brothers won their sixth ATP Houston title as they defeated Victor Estrella and Santiago Gonzalez in a close match that was decided 10-8 in a third set tiebreak.
19 year old Borna Coric still has the rest of the season to claim his first ATP title before he leaves his teenage years. The young Croatian was foiled by Federico Delbonis 6-2 6-4, as the top 50 dirtballer captured his second career ATP title, the other came in 2014.
Delbonis demonstrated his superior clay court prowess and form when he defeated Thiemo De Bakker, Pablo Carreno Busta, and Albert Montanes, along with Coric, without dropping a set throughout the week.
Coric only had to win a pair of matches, as he defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu and Jiri Vesely, battling hard and pulling off a pair of clutch wins. He’ll now have to jetset to Monte Carlo for a round 1 match on a bigger stage.
Maximo Gonzalez and Guillermo Duran beat Marin Draganja and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi in the doubles final. Their win further adds to what a fantastic week it was for Argentine tennis, as Argentines really shined on clay.
2016 ATP Marrakech Preview and Predictions Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
Formerly known as ATP Casablanca, Africa’s only ATP World Tour Stop is now in Marrakech, Morocco and remains an ATP 250 tournament that begins the spring clay court season on the ATP tour.
Grand Prix Hassan II
ATP World Tour 250
Marrakech, Morocco
April 4-10, 2016
Surface: Clay
Prize Money: €463,520
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes) (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Guillermo Garcia- Lopez (37)
2: Joao Sousa (38)
3: Borna Coric (46)
4: Federico Delbonis (48)
The lack of any big names in Casablanca means we could get a surprise winner this week.
Cervantes is pushing for the top 50 and has more ATP wins this year than he had prior to this year in his entire career. The Spaniard has a semifinal on clay in Sao Paulo this year, and could make another run to get into the top 50 in this tournament. Vesely has lost four straight and is just 1-7 this year. The young Czech has talent, but he appears to be off the rails right now. This tournament represents a great chance for him to steady himself, but I have Cervantes notching the slight upset.
Facundo Bagnis vs. (WC)Lamine Ouahab
Bagnis is a remarkable 25-5 on clay this year with three challenger titles, and he should win comfortably. With that said, Ouahab is simply a must watch player when he’s near a TV camera. The 31 year old Algerian/Moroccan dominates the Morocco tennis tour and has won two out of the three futures events in the country this year. He’s an out of shape clay court specialist who reached the Casablanca quarterfinals last year, and has never broken the top 100. His shotmaking abilities, and slice and dice play is remarkable, his physical conditioning much less so. Bagnis will win, but Ouahab will bring joy.
Top Half:
2014 champion and top seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez will face Nicolas Almagro in round 2 most likely, presuming the Spaniard dispatches Radu Albot in round 1. Almagro has a clay court final this year and has won his last three meetings against GGL. Neither player is demonstrating good form right now, but Almagro seems better positioned to reach the quarterfinals.
I have Cervantes defeating Vesely, and then qualifier Nikola Mektic to reach the quarters as well. Mektic has been good on the challenger tour as of late, but Cervantes should be better on clay. Mektic opens with local wild card Reda El Amrani. Cervantes just beat Almagro in Indian Wells, thus I have him pulling off another upset to reach the semis.
Borna Coric was good on clay last season (18-8), and he’ll have his first ATP match on the surface in Marrakech. The teenager is one of the title favorites and he’ll start his bid against either Simone Bolelli or Taro Daniel. It’s been an average year for Coric on tour but with both Bolelli, and Daniel, struggling, he should reach the quarters. Bolelli has lost four straight, while Daniel has lost five straight.
Look for a Coric vs. Albert Ramos quarterfinal. The spin maestro Ramos is solid on clay and 3-2 in his last five matches. Neither Maximo Gonzalez or Daniel Munoz-De La Nava should have the ability to defeat him in round 2, and Paul-Henri Mathieu is a difficult, but winnable round 1 match given this is clay. Ramos beat Coric at the AO this year, and given Coric’s shaky recent play, I have Ramos reaching the semis to face Cervantes .
Bottom Half:
Joao Sousa went 14-9 on clay last year, but is a very poor 3-8 overall this season on the ATP tour. The #2 seed is in danger of falling to Bagnis (or Ouahab) in round 2. Like Garcia-Lopez, I have Sousa getting upset early and the unseeded Bagnis reaching the quarterfinals.
Spaniards Albert Montanes and Daniel Gimeno-Traver look set to compete for the other quarterfinal spot. Montanes is 7-5 on clay this year and a recent challenger semifinalist while Gimeno-Traver is 5-3 on clay. Montanes opens with qualifier Franko Skugor, a doubles specialist who has been surprisingly good at singles this year, while DGT faces Teymuraz Gabashvili, the #5 seed, who hasn’t won a match in his last four outings. Montanes has an ever so slight 4-3 edge over DGT on clay, and thus I have him reaching the quarters. Bagnis is 2-0 against Montanes, and thus I have him in the semis.
Federico Delbonis is 11-7 this year and should breeze past Thiemo de Bakker to reach his third ATP quarterfinal this season. The Dutchman opens with Amine Ahouda, a local wild card.
Sao Paulo finalist Pablo Carreno Busta opens with Evgeny Donskoy, who he just defeated in Indian Wells. Donskoy just won a challenger in Israel on hard courts. His clay game isn’t as sharp, and thus PCB is the favorite. After that, PCB should defeat either Denis Istomin or Lorenzo Giustino to reach the quarterfinals. Giustino qualified, while Istomin just won his first ATP match of the season in Miami. PCB is better on clay than Istomin. Delbonis beat Carreno Busta twice last year on clay, and should move to 4-0 in the h2h.
Both Cervantes and Bagnis appear set to reach the semifinals and beyond. Cervantes has to beat Vesely and GGL/Almagro, while Bagnis needs wins over Sousa, and most likely Montanes, a very doable path for these rising clay courters.
Predictions
Semis Ramos d. Cervantes
Delbonis d. Bagnis
Ramos is 2-0 against Cervantes and more experienced, Delbonis and Bagnis split meetings last year, and prior to that Delbonis had a 2-1 h2h edge. It should be a close battle, but Delbonis has more ATP experience and I have him winning.
Delbonis and Ramos have evenly split clay h2h matches 2-2. Both are talented on the dirt, but this seems to be Delbonis time to rise up and win this title.
