ATP Shanghai, Brasov, St. Remy Challenger Previews, Predictions
Jeff McMillan, Tennis East Coast

Road To The Shanghai Rolex Masters
ATP Challenger Tour
Shanghai, China
August 31-Septmebr 7
Prize Money: $50,000

Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)

1. Go Soeda (106)
2. Somdev Devvarman (143)
3. Yuki Bhambri (151)
4. James Duckworth (154)
5. Luca Vanni (170)
6. Ze Zhang (182)
7. Di Wu (210)
8. Thomas Fabbiano (224)

First round matchups to watch:

Danai Udomchoke vs Hyeon Chung
Battle of young vs old here as 33 year old veteran Udomchoke battles against 18-year-old rising star Chung. Chung is coming off a big challenger win in Bangkok last week where he beat Udomchoke 7-5 6-3 in the first round. These two will have a rare back-to-back week rematch here in Shanghai. It will be a big test for the 18-year-old’s stamina to see how he can cope with playing the very next week after a long week in Bangkok.

Go Soeda vs Jason Jung
Soeda is going through a very rough patch at the moment. He was blasted in US Open qualies by out of practice Oscar Hernandez. Despite being the 31 seed here in Shanghai, Soeda is largely not expected to win this title. He has a formidable test in round 1 vs gritty American Jason Jung. Jung, the former college player for the Michigan Wolverines, is good on hard courts and can give Soeda a tough test and potentially pull the upset over the top seed and end the Japanese’s run before it even begins.

Top half preview:

Soeda is the top seed in the top half but is in poor form, leaving the draw wide open for anyone to make a semifinal run. The top half also includes James Duckworth and Ze Zhang, two players who had disappointing losses in New York as they attempted to qualify for the US Open. It will be interesting to see if Zhang can put his heartbreaking loss to James McGee behind him and show up in his home country, where he has semifinal points from a year ago to defend.

The most interesting player in the top half of the draw is Yoshihito Nishioka, the Japanese youngster who just qualified for his first major at the US Open. He had to retire in his match vs Lorenzi in round 1 in NYC, but he is thought to be near 100% here in Shanghai. He is likely headed for a big 2nd round match with James Duckworth and then potentially a quarterfinal vs Ze Zhang.

Bottom Half Preview:

The more interesting half of the draw is the bottom half. It boasts the top two Indian players in the world, Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri, as well as Chinese #2 Di Wu, who will be playing close to home in Shanghai.

This section is another wide-open one, as just like the top half, the top seed in the half (#2 seed Somdev Devvarman) is in dreadful form. Despite the poor form, Devvarman has found himself in a soft quarter and should reach the quarters with little sweat and likely to face Di Wu, who is also in a soft quarter.

A potential sleeper in this section is Sanam Singh. The former elite college player at the University of Virginia has been on a roll lately. He won 8 matches just to get into the US Open qualies and qualified here. He is best on fast hard courts and could do damage here.

Predictions

Quarters:

Fabbiano def Uchiyama
Zhang def Duckworth
Bhambri def Singh
Wu def Devvarman

Semis:

Zhang def Fabbiano
Bhambri def Wu

Final:

Bhambri def Zhang

I look for Yuki Bhambri to get a big challenger win here in Shanghai. He has been in relatively good form and really needs this to boost himself closer towards the top 100. Wu and Zhang will give great efforts in their home countries but come up just short for the title. An all-Chinese final is not out of the question if Wu can get past Bhambri in the semifinals.

BRD Brasov Challenger
ATP Challenger Tour
Brasov, Romania
August 31-September 7
$45,950

Top 8 seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses):
1. Andreas Haider-Maurer (110)
2. Pere Riba (116)
3. Facundo Arguello (120)
4. Adrian Ungur (137)
5. Gerald Melzer (145)
6. Chase Buchanan (158)
7. Marius Copil (175)
8. Jarsolav Pospisil (195)

Top Half Preview:

The Top half is well balanced with a few players who could make a semi or final run. Haider-Maurer is the favorite to emerge from the section, but home country Romanian Adrian Ungur could be a spoiler in the section for the top seed. American and former Ohio State Buckeye player Chase Buchanan is in the top half, making an interesting choice to venture out and play on European clay after spending most of his career on American hard courts. It is hard to see him beating more experienced clay courters on European soil.

Bottom Half Preview:
The bottom half is the stronger of the two halves as even the unseeded players are dangerous. Players like Guillame Rufin and Lucas Pouille lurk, and they could be sleepers in this tournament. Despite the strength of the unseeded players, the seeds are favored to move on to the quarters here. Copil, Arguello, Melzer and Riba are all pretty good players on the dirt and make their livings grinding out European challenger events. How much advantage will the hometown venue and crowd give Copil here vs the more established clay players Arguello and Riba? That is the question in this part of the draw.

Predictions:

Quarters:

Haider-Maurer def Buchanan
Ungur def Veic
Arguello def Copil
Riba def Rufin

Semifinals:

Haider-Maurer def Ungur
Arguello def Riba

Final:

Haider-Maurer def Arguello

There will be some long 3 setters late in this tournament that will decide the winner. I expect Arguello vs Copil to be a war in the quarters as well as the semifinal. Coming off of two hard fought matches, Arguello will be a little bit too spent to overcome Haider-Maurer, who will have had an easier road to the final.

Trophee Des Alpilles
ATP Challenger Tour
St. Remy, France
September 2-September 7 2014
$55,763

Top Seeds: (ATP rank)
1. Paul Henri Mathieu (81)
2. Sergei Stakhovsky (93)
3. Nicolas Mahut (103)
4. Kenny De Schepper (105)
5. Evgeny Donskoy (118)
6. Norbert Gombos (129)
7. Pierre Herbert (136)
8. Hiroki Moriya (149)

First round matches to watch:

Paul-Henri Mathieu vs Alexander Zverev

ATP veteran Mathieu is the top seed here in St.Remy. He probably possesses the most ability of all the players in the draw, but his motivation can be questioned for a challenger event for a player used to ATP level matches. Meanwhile, Zverev is one of the hottest prospects in the game right now. The 17-year-old German burst onto the scene with a semifinal run in his hometown Hamburg 500 event in July and has had people talking since. This will be a very intriguing match to follow. Experience vs promise.

Top half Preview:

Mathieu is the top seed here and looms at the top of the draw. The rest of the seeds in this section are not the most intimidating, as Mahut is in poor form while Gombos and Herbert are very beatable despite their seeds. That leaves the door open for players like Josselin Ouanna and Fabrice Martin.

Bottom half Preview:

Stakhovsky is the favorite in this section, but dangerous floaters loom. Evgeny Donskoy has a good shot to get out of this section and to the final, as does unseeded Ruben Bemelmans. The winner of Donskoy vs Stakhovsky could very well win this whole tournament.

Predictions:

Quarterfinals:

Zverev def Herbert
Martin def Mahut
Bemelmans def De Schepper
Donskoy def Stakhovsky

Semifinals:

Martin def Zverev
Donskoy def Bemelmans

Final:

Donskoy def Martin

A little bit of a surprise here. Martin has no recent results to indicate he can make the final here, but the others in the section are either in poor form, lacking in proper motivation or too inexperienced and that is why Martin will emerge as the surprise finalist here. Donskoy overcomes Stakhovsky in a very tight match and from that big win will roll to the title herein St. Remy.