Grass Court Season Concludes With ATP 250 Newport Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
The ATP 250 in Newport at the Tennis Hall of Fame concludes the grass court season and begins the North American summer of tennis. Here is your look at all the action.
Top Half:
Adrian Mannarino will begin against James Duckworth or Jordan Thompson, Mannarino is a great grass court player so he should beat Thompson and Gilles Muller to reach the semis. Muller’s path is Marcos Baghdatis, then Marcel Granollers or a qualifier. While Muller is usually good on grass, his poor form means Mannarino has a decided edge.
Steve Johnson did not have a good grass court season, but back in the States he should get past a qualifier or Christian Harrison before running into Alex De Minaur, one of the breakthrough young guns this year and a player who did have a great grass season. De Minaur should eke past the big serving Ivo Karlovic, then defeat Dudi Sela or a qualifier, with De Minaur favored to emerge from this section.
Mischa Zverev should ease past Donald Young/Vasek Pospisil and then defeat Denis Kudla after Kudla defeats Ruben Bemelmans and Ramkumar Ramanathan/qualifier. Zverev has won a title on grass this year and he has a great shot to do it again if he can get past a tough grass court player in Kudla.
Matt Ebden faces Bjorn Fratangelo or Tim Smyczek then should run into Sergiy Stakhovsky in the quarters. Stako will face Jason Jung, coming off success on the challenger tour, then Nicolas Mahut or Ryan Harrison, with Harrison likely falling victim to a tough section full of good grass court players. Ebden vs. Zverev is my bottom half semifinal.
Any of these four players could emerge as champion on this surface, but Mannarino and Zverev should make the final with Zverev continuing his recent success to lift another title.
2016 ATP Newport Preview and Predictions Steen Kirby and Steve Fogleman, Tennis Atlantic
The only ATP tournament on Grass in the USA is at the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, where Tennis Atlantic once again has on-site coverage. Here is a preview with predictions for this ATP 250 stop in the balmy northeast.
Hall of Fame Tennis Championships
ATP World Tour 250
Newport, RI, USA
July 11-17, 2016
Surface: Grass
Prize Money: $515,025
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes) (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Steve Johnson (29)
2: Ivo Karlovic (32)
3: Gilles Muller (39)
4: Marcos Baghdatis (40)
Newport lacks elite players but it does have a host of serve and volleyers, alongside Americans seeking an ATP title.
First round matchups to watch:
Benjamin Becker vs. (WC)Stefan Kozlov
Becker has eight wins on grass this year while Kozlov has struggled since reaching the quarterfinals in Den Bosch. Kozlov is a great young talent, and he does enjoy playing in Newport, but the experienced Becker likely has an edge in this one.
Defending champion Rajeev Ram has been in shockingly poor form on grass, as he has just one win, and five losses on the surface this year. Ram tends to find form in Newport however, and American Mackenzie McDonald has limited experience on tour this year, and just turned pro in June after becoming an NCAA champion at UCLA. Given McDonald’s limited experience on grass, Ram is the favorite.
Top Half:
With a 10-3 record on grass, an ATP title on the surface, and a second week result at Wimbledon already on his resume this year, Steve Johnson is both the tournament favorite, and the top seed. The American will open with Yuichi Sugita or a qualifier, he should win that match, then end up opposite Becker/Kozlov, or Jared Donaldson/Donald Young. Young or Becker should be the favorites for the quarters as Donaldson hasn’t played on grass this year. I have Johnson defeating Becker in my bracket.
Gilles Muller could have some opposition as he looks to reach the semifinals. Still, the seed has the most experience on grass in his section, and he posted both an ATP final and semifinal on the surface in recent weeks. Muller should beat Dennis Novikov, a Wimbledon qualifier, or Victor Estrella, with Adrian Mannarino ending up opposite him in the quarterfinals. Mannarino faces a struggling James Duckworth after a successful enough grass court season. Mannarino also has the big serving Sam Groth, or a qualifier in round 2. Groth has failed to capitalize on big serve and win notable results on grass this year. I favor Muller over Mannarino by a small margin in the quarters.
Ivo Karlovic is yet another big server in the Newport draw, the Croatian should cruise past a qualifier or Ryan Harrison, and face Vasek Pospisil in the quarterfinals. Pospisil is a big server as well, the Canadian has been struggling lately, but Marco Chiudinelli isn’t that tough of an opponent in round 1. In round 2 it will be J.P. Smith or Jordan Thompson for Pospisil. He could be troubled by Thompson, who has shown flashes of skill on grass, but I have it Karlovic over Pospisil in the quarters even though Karlovic has been average at best on grass this year.
A healthy Marcos Baghdatis looks set to have a good week in Newport after posting a pair of ATP quarterfinals this grass court season. The Cypriot ball striker will face Austin Krajicek or a qualifier in round 2, with most likely the Dudi Sela/Lukas Lacko winner to follow in the quarters, unless Ram or McDonald find form. Lacko showed a sudden burst of form as a Wimbledon qualifier, as he reached the third round. Sela was terrible in London, bowing out in round 1, but he dominates the h2h against Lacko. The flaky Lacko is my pick to reach the quarters, before falling to Baghdatis.
Lacko has always had the talent, but he has usually failed to live up to it. After qualifying and reaching the third round at Wimbledon he showed not only his overall tennis ability, but also his potential on grass. Given this wide open field, the unseeded Lacko could leave Newport a surprise winner, or lose in the first round.
Predictions
Semis:
Johnson d. Muller
Karlovic d. Baghdatis
Johnson is my pick for tournament champion, while Baghdatis can struggle at times against big servers, like he did against John Isner at Wimbledon.
Final:
Johnson d. Karlovic
On American soil, Johnson is the clear favorite to win this title, which would be the second ATP title of his career.
2015 ATP Draw Challenge Week 26 (Newport) Staff, Tennis Atlantic
The final grass court tournament of 2015 on the ATP world tour will take place in Newport, Rhode Island at the Tennis Hall of Fame, and it’s a 250 level tournament.
Newport
2015 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships Predictions
Steen Kirby’s picks
Round 2 matches: Isner vs. Sugita, Roger-Vasselin vs. Mannarino, Tomic vs. Donaldson, Ito vs. Johnson, Hernych vs. Falla, Lacko vs. Sock, Querrey vs. Brown, Jaziri vs. Karlovic Quarterfinals: Isner vs. Mannarino, Tomic vs. Johnson, Falla vs. Sock, Brown vs. Karlovic Semifinals: Isner vs. Tomic, Sock vs. Brown Final: Isner vs. Brown Champion: Isner
Niall Clarke’s picks
Round 2 matches: Isner vs. Harrison, Roger-Vasselin vs. Mannarino, Tomic vs. Donaldson, Rubin vs. Johnson, Smyczek vs. Falla, Lacko vs. Sock, Querrey vs. Brown, Jaziri vs. Karlovic Quarterfinals: Isner vs. Mannarino, Tomic vs. Johnson, Falla vs. Sock, Querrey vs. Karlovic Semifinals: Isner vs. Tomic, Falla vs. Querrey Final: Isner vs. Querrey Champion: Querrey
Joe Craven’s picks
Round 2 matches: Isner vs. Harrison, Roger-Vasselin vs. Haas, Tomic vs. Donaldson, Rubin vs. Johnson, Smyczek vs. Falla, Lacko vs. Sock, Querrey vs. Brown, Jaziri vs. Karlovic Quarterfinals: Isner vs. Haas, Tomic vs. Johnson, Falla vs. Sock, Brown vs. Karlovic Semifinals: Isner vs. Tomic, Sock vs. Karlovic Final: Isner vs. Karlovic Champion: Karlovic
Chris de Waard’s picks
Round 2 matches: Isner vs. Sugita, Roger-Vasselin vs. Mannarino, Tomic vs. Donaldson, Ito vs. Johnson, Smyczek vs. Falla, Lacko vs. Sock, Querrey vs. Brown, Jaziri vs. Karlovic Quarterfinals: Isner vs. Mannarino, Tomic vs. Johnson, Falla vs. Sock, Querrey vs. Karlovic Semifinals: Isner vs. Tomic, Sock vs. Querrey Final: Tomic vs. Querrey Champion: Tomic
Everyone in the competition this week has picked a different champion, and one of those players, Bernard Tomic, has already been eliminated from the tournament. Quite simply, anything could happen in Newport.
Chris and Jeff traded spots as the rankings tightened somewhat due to Joe’s grand slam victory. It now appears to be a three horse race as Steen added to his lead on Niall just a bit, but he maintains his second place position.
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