Tim Smyczek Advances @CVilleTennis Wednesday; 9 Americans in Action Today
Smyczek
No. 3 seed Tim Smyczek defeated fellow American Sekou Bangoura, 6-3, 7-6(6) to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2015 Charlottesville Men’s Pro Challenger benefiting Special Olympics Virginia on Wednesday.
Smyczek came on to the court with confidence and quickly broke Bangoura, only having to play twenty-three return points, and ultimately winning the set. Bangoura started to find his groove in the second set but after failing to convert six break points, Smyczek pulled though, winning the match 6-3, 7-6(6) in just shy of two hours.
Smyczek holds six USTA Pro Circuit Challenger titles, with two of them coming this year in Dallas and Tiburon. In 2013, Smyczek partnered with fellow American Steve Johnson to win the doubles title at the Charlottesville Men’s Pro Challenger. Smyczek will now face Dimitar Kutrovsky in what is expected to be a highly competitive match. Kutrovsky beat wild card Ernesto Escobedo 7-5, 6-4, earlier in the day. Currently ranked No. 336 in the world, Kutrovsky will be playing in his first Challenger quarterfinal since the Lecoq Seoul Open Challenger earlier this year.
Highlighting today’s order of play in one of the featured evening matches is American teenager Frances Tiafoe. Tiafoe took out No. 1 seed Malek Jaziri, 7-6(5), 6-4 in the first round late last Tuesday. Tiafoe is looking to build on an already stellar season, having reached the quarterfinals or further of four Challengers, and clenching the Har-Tru Wild Card Challenge this past May. Tiafoe recently reached a career high ranking of No. 226 just last week.
Wednesday, November 4 – RESULTS Singles – Second Round
Henri Laaksonen, Switzerland, d. Ryan Harrison (4), United States, 7-5, 7-5
Tim Smyczek (3), United States, d. Sekou Bangoura, United States, 6-3, 7-6(6)
Dimitar Kutrovsky, Bulgaria, d. WC-Ernesto Escobedo, United States, 7-5, 6-4
Bjorn Fratangelo (5), United States, d. Mitchell Krueger, United States, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2
Singles – First Round
Frederik Nielsen, Denmark, d. Blaz Kavcic (7), United Arab Emirates, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
Doubles – Quarterfinals
David O’hare, Ireland, and Joe Salisbury, Great Britian (4), d. Daniel Smethurst and Darren Walsh, Great Britain, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles – First Round
Adrien Bossel, Switzerland, and Mitchell Krueger, United States, d. Jarryd Chaplin and James Duckworth, Australia, 6-2, 3-6, 10-7
Peter Polansky and Adil Shamasdin (3), Canada, d. WC-Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Mac Styslinger, United States, 6-4, 7-6(4)
Johan Brunstrom, Sweden, and Frederik Nielsen, Denmark (1), d. David Rice and Marcus Willis, Great Britain, 6-4, 6-1
Chase Buchanan and Tennys Sandgren (2), United States, d. Liam Broady and Daniel Evans, Great Britain, 6-4, 6-4
Tennys Sandgren
Tennys Sandgren
ORDER OF PLAY – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 05, 2015
COURT 7 start 11:00 am
[Q] S. Kozlov (USA) vs [Q] D. Rice (GBR)
[Alt] T. Paul (USA) vs F. Nielsen (DEN)
[6] J. Donaldson (USA) vs [Q] N. Rubin (USA)
Not Before 5:00 pm
[1] J. Brunstrom (SWE) / F. Nielsen (DEN) vs A. Bossel (SUI) / M. Krueger (USA)
F. Tiafoe (USA) vs A. Kuznetsov (USA)
Buchanan
COURT 9 start 3:00 pm
H. Laaksonen (SUI) / L. Margaroli (SUI) vs [2] C. Buchanan (USA) / T. Sandgren (USA)
[3] P. Polansky (CAN) / A. Shamasdin (CAN) vs B. Fratangelo (USA) / J. Milton (GBR)
Lonely in Las Vegas: ATP Player @JYNole On Coaching Disparities In Pro Tennis Jean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic
Sitting in the player’s lounge at the Las Vegas Open Challenger, I look to the other side of the room and see a coach gripping his players racquets before the match. I turn to my doubles partner and quietly say, “must be nice.”
It’s no secret that it’s impossible to turn a yearly profit playing in the minor leagues of tennis, due to the peanut-sized prize money and high expenses. Just to give you an idea, if a player wins the singles AND doubles event at the futures level, he’s unable to cover his expenses. At the challenger level, expenses can be covered, but only if a player wins the singles tournament or reaches the final.
With that being said, in the attempt to cut our losses, we rarely travel with a coach. This is because unlike in team sports, a player is required to cover his coach’s salary and expenses on the road. So by choosing to travel alone, a player saves a boatload of money.
Jean Yves Aubone (Photo: Steen Kirby)
While it’s great to save all that money, traveling alone means getting rid of the most important contributor to a player’s success. Coaches provide players with the information they need. They correct a player’s bad habits, techniques, and strategies that have prevented them from reaching the top. So when a player travels with a coach, he continues to receive the necessary information to improve daily.
For a player traveling alone, the probability of daily improvements decreases. A player might be smart enough to recognize some of his mistakes but he can’t recognize all of them. It is the job of the coach to first inform the player that he’s making a mistake. Then the player can begin to correct it.
When a player traveling without a coach does recognize a mistake, he then has to figure out how to correct it on his own. For example, if I finally figured out that I’m hitting low short forehands incorrectly – would I then ask a fellow competitor to feed me short balls for an hour so I can correct the issue? Probably not. He could be a potential opponent. I don’t want to expose a weakness to him.
Well what if I don’t care about exposing my weakness, and I just want to get better. Will a potential opponent be willing to spend an hour of their day, helping me for free, when they could be spending it improving their own game? Not likely. And I can’t blame them. I wouldn’t want to either. If I’ve practiced for two hours and have a match the following day, I’m not going to spend an extra hour preparing someone else for their match when I could be preparing for myself.
Because of these circumstances, the player traveling with his coach has a higher probability of success over the player who travels alone. And I’m referring to a player’s overall career, not just an individual tournament.
Think about how much time is lost for the player traveling to the average 27 tournaments a year alone. That’s more than half the year that he didn’t receive any coaching.
Compare that to the player always traveling with a coach.
A player traveling with a coach to those 27 tournaments, will receive coaching for an extra 189 days a year. Over 5 years that equates to 945 days of extra coaching received. Over 10 years that’s 1,890 days!
It’s easy to see how big of an advantage a player who has the ability to travel with a coach has over one who’s forced to make it on his own. The players I’ve seen make the quickest jumps from the minor leagues to the ATP level have had a coach with them all the way.
The question becomes, what does a player do if they don’t have the finances to travel with a coach? Does he stop playing, knowing that the odds of him making it as a top 100 singles player in the world are stacked against him? Lets not forget that tennis is already one of the most difficult sports in the world to make it in. Or does he try anyway, believing that he can be the exception and live his dream of playing in a grand slam?
2015 Ningbo, Brest, Bangalore, Las Vegas and Santiago Challenger Recaps Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic
Ningbo
The number one Asian Challenger specialist, Yen-Hsun Lu, was the top seed in this event and the clear favorite to take down the title. He knew no problems in his opening rounds, not dropping a set on his way to the semi-final. There he faced seventh seed Peter Gojowczyk, who comfortably cruised through his matches as well, beating Jordan Thompson 6-4 6-4 in the quarterfinal, the man who took out third seed Dudi Sela in the first round. Gojowczyk was able to trouble Lu for one set, but after that the outcome of the match was settled, 7-6(3) 6-3.
In the bottom half both Japanese seeds got upset in the first round. Fifth seed Yoshihito Nishioka got hammered by qualifier Daniel Masur, 6-1 6-2, while fourth seed Go Soeda lost 6-2 3-6 6-1 to Flavio Cipolla. Masur went on to reach the quarterfinal, where he lost 7-6(6) 6-0 to Franko Skugor, a remarkable scoreline. In the bottom section sixth seed Jurgen Zopp took out second seed James Duckworth 7-6(4) 6-3 in the semi-final, after which he beat Skugor as well for a place in the final, 6-4 7-6(6). In the final Lu was too strong, however, claiming his twenty-second Challenger title after a 7-6(3) 6-1 victory, a spectacular number. He also rose fourteen ranking spots to #77, while Zopp climbed fourteen spots as well, to #147.
Brest
Benoit Paire raised a lot of eyebrows when he entered this tournament on a wild card, given that he was the world #23. That didn’t mean he eased through the tournament, however. Only after 6-2 5-7 3-0 ret., 7-5 6-7(6) 6-3 and 7-6(6) 6-1 victories over respectively Maxime Teixeira, David Guez and Luca Vanni did he reach the final. There he met sixth seed Ivan Dodig, who took out Andrea Arnaboldi (the conqueror of second seed Nicolas Mahut in the first round) 6-3 7-5 in the quarterfinal, before overcoming Edouard Roger-Vasselin 4-6 6-3 6-2 a round later for a place in the final. There Paire pulled one of his vintage antics, pretty much tanking the match away after going up *5-1 in the first set, losing 7-5 6-1. Paire rose two ranking spots to #21, while Dodig made a big jump of twenty spots to #102.
Second seed James Ward went through a disastrous period after reaching the top 100 for the first time in July, losing ten matches in a row. In Bangalore he was able to recover in great fashion, however. He reached the semi-final without dropping a set, after which he overcame Daniel Nguyen in the semi-final after a tough encounter, 4-6 6-4 6-3. Top seed Adrian Menendez-Maceiras surprisingly dropped a set against qualifier Prajnesh Gunneswaran in the second round, but didn’t slip up again after that, beating third seed Saketh Myneni 6-4 6-4 for a place in the final. There Ward was too strong, with the Brit taking down his fourth Challenger title after a 6-2 7-5 victory. He rose sixteen ranking spots to #143, while Menendez-Maceiras dropped three spots to #140, since he noted the same result last year.
They really love their Challenger tennis in Bangalore.
Las Vegas
Eighth seed Dennis Novikov continued his great form as of late, taking out top seed Austin Krajicek in the quarterfinal after a titanic battle, 7-6(2) 3-6 7-6(3). Another titanic battle followed in the semi-final against Grega Zemlja, but this time with another winner, as Zemlja won 4-6 6-2 7-6(5) to advance to the final. A great achievement, as he survived three-setters in all his matches, taking out Dustin Brown, Taylor Fritz and Blaz Rola in the first three rounds. In the bottom half Blaz Kavcic took out second seed Tim Smyczek in the second round, 7-6(5) 6-4. He took out sixth seed Jared Donaldson as well a round later, 3-6 7-5 6-1, before falling to seventh seed Thiemo de Bakker in the semi-final, 7-6(5) 4-6 6-4. Zemlja would play his fifth three-set match in the final, but this time he couldn’t win, as De Bakker took home his ninth Challenger title after a 3-6 6-3 6-1 victory. He rose twenty-four ranking spots to #117, while Zemlja rose twenty-eight spots to #175.
The tournament lost top seed Diego Schwartzman quickly, as he had to retire during his second round match against Maximo Gonzalez with the flu. Gonzalez beat seventh seed Andre Ghem a round later, 6-4 4-6 6-4, before succumbing to eighth seed Rogerio Dutra Silva in the semi-final, 6-3 0-6 6-3. Dutra Silva took out fourth seed Joao Souza a round earlier in an absolute epic, 4-6 6-3 7-6(6). In the bottom half countrymen Carlos Berlocq and Horacio Zeballos faced each other for a place in the final, with Zeballos prevailing in two tight sets, 7-5 7-6(5). Zeballos was impeccable on serve and rarely gave Berlocq room to breathe because of it. In the final Dutra Silva continued his remarkable run of form, which saw him climb 150 ranking spots from the start of the year already, and beat Zeballos 7-5 3-6 7-5 to claim his second Challenger title of the year and seventh overall. He rose twenty-seven ranking spots to #124, while Zeballos rose sixteen spots to #136.
USTA LAUNCHES USTA PRO CIRCUIT AUSTRALIAN OPEN WILD CARD CHALLENGE NEXT WEEK
Players with the best results in select USTA Pro Circuit tournaments
will earn wild cards into 2016 Australian Open main draw;
only players who did not earn direct entry into the Australian Open are eligible
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., October 22, 2015 – The USTA today announced the launch of the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge. The Wild Card Challenge, in its second year, will utilize the USTA Pro Circuit to award wild cards into the 2016 Australian Open.
In this Wild Card Challenge, the American man and American woman who earn the most ATP World Tour and WTA ranking points at two of the three select USTA Pro Circuit hard-court events this fall will earn main draw wild cards into the 2016 Australian Open. Only Americans who did not earn direct entry into the Australian Open are eligible. The USTA and Tennis Australia have a reciprocal agreement in which wild cards into the 2015 US Open and 2016 Australian Open are exchanged.
All participating tournaments will be streamed live on http://www.procircuit.usta.com and can also be followed on the USTA Pro Circuit app by searching “procircuit” in the app store. Two new $50,000 women’s events will be joining the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge: in Waco, Texas, and Scottsdale, Ariz.
The Australian Open Wild Card Challenge will consist of the following events:
$50,000 USTA Pro Circuit Women’s Events
Tennis Classic of Macon, Macon, Ga. (week of Oct. 26)
Bush’s $50,000 Waco Showdown, Waco, Texas (week of Nov. 2)
Copperwynd Pro Women’s Challenge, Scottsdale, Ariz. (week of Nov. 9)
$50,000 USTA Pro Circuit Men’s Events
Charlottesville Men’s Pro Challenger, Charlottesville, Va. (week of Nov. 2)
Knoxville 2015 Challenger, Knoxville, Tenn. (week of Nov. 9)
JSM Challenger of Champaign-Urbana, Champaign, Ill. (week of Nov. 16)
The USTA first used this wild card format in 2012 to award wild cards into the French Open and US Open and has been doing so ever since. Last year, Irina Falconi and Denis Kudla earned wild cards into the Australian Open by winning this wild card challenge. This year, teenagers Frances Tiafoe and Louisa Chirico each won the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge for wild cards into the French Open, and Samantha Crawford and Bjorn Fratangelo earned US Open wild cards by winning the US Open Wild Card Challenge this summer.
The 2016 Australian Open main draw will be held Monday, Jan. 18, to Sunday, Jan. 31.
Information on the USTA Pro Circuit’s Australian Open Wild Card Challenge will be available at www.procircuit.usta.com and on Twitter through @USTAProCircuit.
2015 ATP Szczecin, Istanbul, Banja Luka, Nanchang, Cary and Kenitra Challenger Recaps Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic
Szczecin
A painful tournament for second seed Robin Haase, as he skipped the Davis Cup tie against Switzerland to try and build up his ranking, only to crash out against world #407 Artem Smirnov in the second round, 6-3 4-6 6-4. Smirnov showed it wasn’t a fluke, as he beat fifth seed Inigo Cervantes in the next round, 3-6 6-1 7-5. Then Smirnov got a lucky break in the semi-final, as fourth seed Marco Cecchinato withdrew with a stomach injury.
The top half saw sixth seed Nicolas Almagro’s excellent run end, he won the Genova Challenger last week, as seventh seed Jan-Lennard Struff beat him 6-3 4-6 7-5 in the semi-final. Struff ousted top seed Pablo Carreno Busta a round earlier, 6-1 7-6(1). The final against Smirnov turned out to be a comfortable affair for Struff, as he took his second career Challenger title. A very welcome one, as he was only 1-9 in Challenger finals prior to this tournament. Struff rose eleven ranking spots to #137, while 27-year-old Smirnov made a monster jump of 142 spots to #265, only three places shy of his career high ranking of 262. His ATP profile is currently completely devoid of any information, perhaps another result like this one will take care of that.
Istanbul
It took a while for top seed Sergiy Stakhovsky to find his rhythm. In the first round he scraped by qualifier Ilya Ivashka, 3-6 6-1 6-4, with a similar scenario unfolding against Nils Langer in the second round, 2-6 7-5 7-5. After that things changed drastically, only dropping four games against Marius Copil and five against fourth seed Andrey Kuznetsov to book a place in the final. In the bottom half the seeds fell like flies. Second seed Marsel Ilhan fell to Aslan Karatsev in the first round, 6-7(4) 6-3 6-1, while third seed Radu Albot lost 6-0 7-6(3) to Yannick Mertens in the second round.
Fifth seed Aleksandr Nedovyesov fell 6-7(7) 7-6(7) 6-3 to Karen Khachanov, which turned out to be a monumental victory for the 19-year-old, as he went on to comfortably find his way to the final without dropping a set. There he also beat world #53 Stakhovsky to claim his first ever Challenger title, 4-6 6-4 6-3. The nineteen ranking spots he rose means a new career high ranking for the young Russian, #164. Stakhovsky moved into the top 50, rising three spots.
Banja Luka
Top seed Daniel Gimeno-Traver struggled past Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in the first round, 6-7(8) 6-1 7-6(4), after which he got upset by wildcard Flavio Cipolla in the next round, 6-4 7-6(5). Victor Hanescu was the one to profit, beating Cipolla 6-1 6-2 in the quarterfinal and surprising semi-finalist Miljan Zekic a round later, 7-5 6-7(6) 6-4, to reach the final. In the bottom half second seed Marcel Granollers withdrew citing personal reasons, leaving a lucky loser to fill his spot. Adrian Ungur came out as the winner in that section, beating Jozef Kovalik 6-3 6-1 in the quarterfinal. Third seed Dusan Lajovic was too much in the semi-final, however, notching up a 6-3 6-4 victory to advance to the final without dropping a set. He kept it up in the final against Hanescu, although it was a very tight affair, 7-6(5) 7-6(5). It meant a return into the top 100 for the Serb, rising six spots to #96. Hanescu rose thirty-six spots to #188.
Top seed Yen-Hsun Lu withdrew citing a lower back injury, leaving seventh seed Thomas Fabbiano to profit and take control of the section, reaching the semi-final by beating Alexander Sarkissian 6-1 6-4. In the other section Peter Gojowczyk comfortably reached the semi-final without dropping a set, but faced stiff competition in Fabbiano, barely beating him 3-6 7-6(4) 7-6(2). In the bottom half second seed Go Soeda continued his slump, getting trashed 6-2 6-1 by Amir Weintraub in the first round. Weintraub marched onto the semi-final, where he beat eighth seed Jordan Thompson 6-3 6-4. Gojowczyk was way too strong in the final, however, beating Weintraub 6-2 6-1 to claim his fourth Challenger title. He landed on a new ranking of #140, rising thirty spots. Weintraub rose a massive ninety-seven spots to #279.
Cary
The seeds held up well here, with six of them reaching the quarterfinals. There, top seed Bjorn Fratangelo fell 6-1 3-6 6-3 to sixth seed Brydan Klein, while second seed Austin Krajicek fell 7-5 7-6(2) to fifth seed Ryan Harrison. Klein fell in the semi-final to seventh seed Dennis Novikov, 1-6 7-5 7-5. while Harrison beat fourth seed Blaz Rola 4-6 7-5 6-2 for a place in the final. There 21-year-old Novikov pulled off a career best achievement, winning his first ever Challenger title by beating Harrison 6-4 7-5. Naturally he also reached a new career high ranking of #163, rising forty-five spots. Harrison rose thirteen spots to #116.
Kenitra
Top seed and new member of the top 100 Daniel Munoz-De La Nava got upset by Maximilian Marterer in the quarterfinal, 7-5 6-4. Fourth seed Roberto Carballes Baena took advantage in the semi-final, beating Marterer comfortably, 6-3 6-2. The bottom half delivered a surprising finalist. Second seed Damir Dzumhur lost to Javier Marti in the second round, 6-2 7-6(6). Third seed Facundo Arguello lost in the quarterfinal to Oriol Roca Batalla, 6-7(4) 6-0 6-2. Roca Batalla went on to reach the final after a 4-6 7-5 6-4 victory over Marti, but his titanic efforts caught up with him in the final, having to retire with an adductor injury while Carballes Baena was leading 6-1 5-1. Nevertheless, he rose forty-six ranking spots to #204. Carballes Baena rose fifteen spots to a career high #135 after winning his first Challenger.
2015 Vancouver, Cordenons and Meerbusch Challenger Previews & Predictions Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic
Odlum Brown Vanopen
ATP Challenger Tour
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
15-23 August 2015
Hardcourt
Prize Money: $100,000
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Ricardas Berankis (74)
2: John Millman (85)
3: Ernests Gulbis (87)
4: Ruben Bemelmans (103)
5: Go Soeda (108)
6: Kyle Edmund (109)
7: Taro Daniel (112)
8: Alejandro Gonzalez (117)
The last direct acceptance is Gastao Elias, ranked 188th.
First round match-ups to watch
(6) Kyle Edmund – Dudi Sela
Sela
Sela pushed world #69 Alexander Dolgopolov to the edge in their first round qualifying match in Montreal last week, losing 6-2 3-6 7-6(2). Despite Sela’s ranking dropping a bit this year, this indicates he still has it in him to trouble higher-ranked opponents like Edmund. They faced each other last year at the Nottingham Challenger on grass, where Sela prevailed 6-4 2-6 6-2.
Jurgen Melzer – Elias Ymer
An interesting clash of generations, with 34-year-old Melzer facing 19-year-old Ymer. Their rankings are very similar, respectively #133 and #141. Ymer hasn’t had the greatest of runs since qualifying for Wimbledon, posting a 2-4 record. Former world #8 Melzer isn’t doing much better, however, having failed to win back to back matches since Indian Wells in March.
Top Half
We might be witnessing the biggest chance of scenery in back to back weeks ever with former top ten player Ernests Gulbis participating here. Last week he reached the quarterfinal of Montreal to eventually fall to world number one Novak Djokovic, but not before missing two match points in the process during his 7-5 6-7(7) 6-1 loss. This week he is the third seed at a Challenger, facing Iliya Marchenko in the first round. Naturally, if he continues his form of last week, he is the favorite to win the title here. Another former top ten player, wild card Janko Tipsarevic, is drawn in this half as well and might be Gulbis’ second round opponent.
Bottom Half
Second seed John Millman is going for his third title in a row. Fatigue might be an issue here, although he had a week off between his first two titles. He might face countryman John-Patrick Smith in the quarterfinal, who beat him in the qualifying draw of Roland Garros this year. Seventh seed Taro Daniel faces a tough first round opponent in Matthew Ebden, with fourth seed Ruben Bemelmans and Austin Krajicek also factors in this section.
Predictions
Semis:
Gulbis d. Berankis
Bemelmans d. Smith
Final:
Gulbis d. Bemelmans
ATP Challenger Intermek Tennis Cup Internazionali Di Tennis Del Friuli Venezia Giulia
ATP Challenger Tour
Cordenons, Italy
17-23 August 2015
Red Clay
Prize Money: €42,500
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Albert Ramos-Vinolas (55)
2: Paolo Lorenzi (80)
3: Filip Krajinovic (122)
4: Kenny De Schepper (143)
5: Andrej Martin (159)
6: Roberto Carballes Baena (168)
7: Filippo Volandri (192)
8: Gianluca Naso (194)
The last direct acceptance is Rogerio Dutra Silva, ranked 302nd.
First round match-up to watch
(1) Albert Ramos-Vinolas – (Q) Jaume Munar
The last time Rafael Nadal’s new protégé Munar faced a fellow Spaniard in the main draw, he won. Kind of. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez retired after three games in the first round of Hamburg, where Munar received a wild card after Nadal made it a requirement for playing himself. In the second round he showed it was a deserved one, however, pushing world #71 Simone Bolelli to the brink, with the Italian winning 6-1 6-7(5) 6-4. It will be interesting to see how the 18-year-old holds up against yet another top 100 player.
Top Half
Top seed Ramos-Vinolas has a tricky draw. After Munar he might face last week’s Prague champion Rogerio Dutra Silva, potentially followed by Portoroz runner-up Grega Zemlja. #6 seed Roberto Carballes Baena is also placed in this section. In the bottom section a wild variety of players might come through, with fourth seed Kenny De Schepper not having clay as his favorite surface. Someone like Nikola Mektic, Alessandro Giannessi or Adrian Ungur might become an unseeded semi-finalist.
Bottom Half
Second seed Paolo Lorenzi has a favorable draw to at least reach the semi-final, being placed in a section with Filippo Volandri as the other seed. In the top section fifth seed Andrej Martin and third seed Filip Krajinovic are likely to decide the other semi-finalist, with Krajinovic being the slight favorite to do so.
Predictions
Semis:
Ramos-Vinolas d. Giannessi
Lorenzi d. Krajinovic
Final:
Ramos-Vinolas d. Lorenzi
Maserati Challenger by Cittadino
ATP Challenger Tour
Meerbusch, Germany
17-23 August 2015
Red Clay
Prize Money: €42,500
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Andreas Haider-Maurer (59)
2: Dustin Brown (83)
3: Facundo Arguello (145)
4: Carlos Berlocq (151)
5: Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (157)
6: Andrey Golubev (162)
7: Jordi Samper-Montana (208)
8: Victor Hanescu (223)
The last direct acceptance is Vladimir Ivanov, ranked 310th.
First round match-up to watch
(1) Andreas Haider-Maurer – (Q) Philipp Davydenko
Haider-Maurer
Last week Haider-Maurer got upset by world #382 Nikola Mektic in the second round of Prague and that might be an indication that he struggles with his motivation in these events, even though he preferred this over trying to qualify for the Masters events in these two weeks. Davydenko, Nikolay’s nephew, faced another player with a famous relative in the final round of qualifying, Federico Coria, Guillermo’s brother, whom he beat 7-5 in the third set.
Top Half
Despite his shocking upset of last week, it’s hard not to predict Haider-Maurer to do well here, the ranking difference with the rest is simply too big. The difference with the second highest seed in this half, third seed Facundo Arguello, is almost a hundred spots. A semi-final showdown between them is likely.
Bottom Half
Fourth seed Carlos Berlocq has had an abysmal year so far because of injury struggles, but with this draw he might be able to rekindle some of his old form. Sixth seed Andrey Golubev is in terrible form himself and other competitors like Daniel Brands, Christian Garin and Berlocq’s first round opponent Tim Puetz are very erratic. Talking about erratic, the bottom section is headed by Dustin Brown, who will likely have to get past seventh seed Jordi Samper-Montana or Pere Riba for a place in the semi-final and is a favorite to do so.
2015 Prostejov, Gimcheon, Fürth, Manchester and Mestre Challenger Recaps Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic
Prostejov
This was undoubtedly the week of world #247 Laslo Djere. In an amazing run to the final, he managed to beat #36 Martin Klizan (7-5 2-6 6-2), #67 Dusan Lajovic (4-6 6-4 6-2) and #78 Joao Souza (6-7(3) 7-6(4) 7-5), making it even more impressive by doing it in three sets every time. Also noteworthy is that Klizan saved 8 MP in his first round match against Norbert Gombos, winning 4-6 6-0 7-6(12). In the bottom half defending champion Jiri Vesely ruled the field, not dropping a set on his way to the semi-final, where it ironically took a qualifier to break that spell, with Vesely beating Uladmizir Ignatik 6-7(1) 6-2 6-2. Djere couldn’t keep up his dream run, with Vesely beating him 6-4 6-2 in the final to defend his title. Nevertheless a spectacular run for the 20-year-old Serb, of course, which saw him rise sixty-five ranking spots to #182, entering the top 200 for the first time. Vesely, as he didn’t gain any points here and failed to defend his second round at Roland Garros, dropped five spots to #46.
A tournament full of upsets, as the favorites for the title all bombed out in the early rounds. Especially shocking was the loss of top seed Go Soeda, who was the clear favorite being the only top 200 player in the draw (at #92 even). Soeda lost in the second round to Cheong-Eui Kim, 6-7(4) 7-5 6-2. Kim managed to win his next round, but then fell to the revelation of the tournament, American Alexander Sarkissian, 6-1 5-7 6-4. In the bottom half a similar scenario fell upon the seeds, as #4 seed Ramkumar Ramanathan lost 3-6 6-2 6-3 to Ji Sung Nam in the second round, while #2 seed Ti Chen got upset by Philip Bester in the first round, 6-4 6-2. #5 seed Connor Smith took advantage by reaching the final, beating Hiroyasu Ehara 6-3 6-4 in the semi-final. Here Sarkissian was too strong, however, taking down his first ever Challenger title with a 7-6(5) 6-4 scoreline. It meant a big improvement in the rankings for him, rising 102 spots to #210. Smith is nearby, rising sixty-three spots to #203.
Challenger Gimcheon :
Alexander Sarkissian (312) vs Connor Smith (271) 76(5) 64.
1er challenger pour l'Américain pic.twitter.com/qi5Rgky6gj
Despite dropping down the rankings, 34-year-old Albert Montanes showed that he still has plenty of fight left in him. After trashing his first two opponents, Florian Mayer and Christian Lindell, 6-3 6-1 and 6-2 6-0, he saved a match point against 19-year-old Elias Ymer before prevailing 6-4 1-6 7-6(5). Then came his biggest win of the tournament, leaving world #63 Albert Ramos-Vinolas no chance in their 6-2 6-3 encounter. In the bottom half Taro Daniel continued his excellent run of form on clay, comfortably going through the draw and eventually humiliating second seed Blaz Rola 6-4 6-0 in the semi-final, after a shaky start where he went down 3-1. Daniel continued his excellent form in the final, beating Montanes with almost the same scoreline, 6-3 6-0. It meant his second Challenger title of the year, having won against Vercelli in April, and a new career high ranking of #125, improving forty-three spots. Montanes rose nineteen spots to #136.
Manchester
Top seed Marcos Baghdatis experienced a shocking loss in the second round, falling 6-3 6-7(4) 7-6(5) to Brydan Klein. In the same section Alejandro had perhaps an even more shocking loss, going up 6-0 3-0* 40-30 before falling 0-6 7-6(2) 6-3 to Luke Saville in the second round. The other seeds in this half, Malek Jaziri and Tatsuma Ito, fell in the first round, making this a golden opportunity for a lot of players to seriously improve their rankings. Saville went through to the semi-finals and faced the man who took out Ito, Konstantin Kravchuk. After a close encounter Saville went through to the final, 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 6-3. In the bottom half second seed Sam Groth comfortably cruised through the draw until the semi-final, when he got a bit lucky after Rajeev Ram went up a set and a break and eventually was forced to retire after losing the second set in a tiebreak. In the final Groth was clearly too strong for Saville, taking down his third Challenger title 7-5 6-1. It also meant a new career high ranking for Groth, rising six spots to #66. Saville went up thirty-seven spots to #183.
After a solid start to the tournament disaster struck for top seed Paolo Lorenzi, having to retire in the semi-final while 1-0 up against Jozef Kovalik due to a left leg injury. Second seed Facundo Bagnis fell in the first round to Jose Hernandez-Fernandez, the eventual surprising semi-finalist, who came into the tournament as an alternate. Hernandez-Fernandez fell to Maximo Gonzalez, however, being left no chance in straight sets, 6-3 6-2. Gonzalez continued his dominance in the final, beating Kovalik 6-1 6-3 to claim his fifteenth Challenger title and reclaim a spot in the top 100, rising nineteen spots to #95. Kovalik rose fourteen spots to a career high ranking of #190.
2015 Taipei, Anning, Sao Paulo, Tallahassee, Ostrava and Turin Challenger Recaps Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic
Taipei
Top seed Yen-Hsun Lu is the all-time leader when it comes to Challenger titles (21), with most of them coming out of Asia, but he wasn’t able to add another one in his home country. In the quarterfinal it was Konstantin Kravchuk who upset him after a long battle, 7-6(4) 4-6 7-5. A round before Kravchuk profited from Ryan Harrison’s right ankle injury, which forced him to retire after only one game. Former world #61 Matthew Ebden managed to pick up some nice wins, beating #4 seed and world #91 Lukas Lacko 7-5 6-3 in the second round, after which he took out another seed in the quarterfinal, as he beat #7 Iliya Marchenko 6-3 6-4. Kravchuk was one bridge too far, however, in a match settled through the most titanic scoreline possible, 6-7(3) 7-6(4) 7-6(4).
In the bottom half Yuki Bhambri continued building up his ranking, taking out #8 seed Jimmy Wang 6-3 6-1 in the second round and #3 seed Go Soeda 6-4 3-6 6-3 in the next. Big-serving Sam Groth was next and proved to be too much, with the Australian #2 seed winning 6-4 7-5 to book a place in the final against Kravchuk. Here Kravchuk continued his trend of long and grueling matches, but this time with his opponent as the winner, as Groth won 6-7(5) 6-4 7-6(3). Groth clearly made a great choice to play a Challenger after a bad run on the main tour, rising seventeen spots to a career high ranking of #68. Kravchuk rose one spot more, eighteen to #149.
Top seed James Duckworth made a good start to the tournament with two easy victories, but had to bow to Grega Zemlja in the quarterfinal. The former world #43, coming back from injury, beat Duckworth 7-6(2) 7-5. In the semi-final Zemlja faced a very surprising player, Gavin van Peperzeel, the world #458, who is normally only a fixture on the Futures circuit. However, Van Peperzeel showed he has a lot of potential, beating Zemlja 6-7(3) 6-2 6-2 for a place in the final. Remarkably enough the bottom half had exactly the same story, with world #547 Franko Skugor reaching the final after beating #4 seed Boy Westerhof in the first round, after which Ruan Roelofse, Duckhee Lee and #5 seed Tsung-Hua Yang followed suit. The final was an one-sided affair, with Skugor beating Van Peperzeel 7-5 6-2 to claim his second career title. Naturally both men made tremendous jumps on the ranking, with Skugor rising 229 spots to #318 and Van Peperzeel 119 spots to #339.
Sao Paulo
The higher seeds fell like flies, with top seed Maximo Gonzalez bowing out in the first round against Germain Gigounon (6-7(4) 6-2 6-4), while #3 seed Andre Ghem lost 6-3 6-4 to Alexis Musialek and #4 seed Chase Buchanan 6-4 6-3 to Christian Lindell. In the second round #2 seed Blaz Rola joined the pack, losing 6-4 4-6 6-4 to wildcard Rogerio Dutra Silva. Lindell powered through after his first round win, eventually taking out #8 seed Guido Andreozzi 3-6 6-4 6-1 in the semi-final. Joining him in the final was the one seed who managed to reach the quarterfinal stage in the bottom half, #5 Guido Pella. Far from smoothly, however, needing a third set tiebreak in the first round and a 7-5 in the third set in his quarterfinal against Orlando Luz. His semi-final against Jose Hernandez-Fernandez went easier, 6-3 6-3.
Pella managed to win the final as well against Lindell, in two hard fought sets, 7-5 7-6(1). It meant the second title of the year for him, now sitting on an impressive 8-1 record in Challenger finals. It also meant a good improvement ranking wise, rising twenty-seven spots to #132. Lindell reached the top 200 for the first time in his career, rising forty-two spots to #180.
Tallahassee
Calling him a sensation almost would be an understatement at this point, but one thing is for sure, Frances Tiafoe is quickly leaving his mark on the tennis world. The 17-year-old started the year outside of the top 1000, but after a quarterfinal and semi-final run in his first ever Challengers, he already seems ready to march to the gates of the main tour. His third event here in Tallahassee continued the pattern, taking out top seed and world #90 Facundo Bagnis 1-6 7-6(5) 6-4 in the first round. Our own Jean-Yves Aubone followed in the second round, Emilio Gomez in the quarterfinal and Tennys Sandgren as well in the semi-final after a long battle, 1-6 6-4 7-6(1). In the bottom half #5 seed Facundo Arguello seemed to be compensating the early loss of his countryman Bagnis, beating four Americans in a row to reach the final. Respectively Stefan Kozlov, Tommy Paul, Mitchell Krueger and Jared Donaldson had to bow out against the Argentinean.
Tiafoe came close in the final, very close, but he couldn’t hold onto his 6-2 *4-3 40-30 and 3-0* in the tiebreak leads. Despite an impressive comeback from Tiafoe in the third set, winning four games in a row from 0-4 down, Arguello came out the winner, 2-6 7-6(5) 6-4. Nevertheless, this obviously was yet another impressive week from Tiafoe, winning him a Roland Garros wildcard and an improvement of eighty-eight in the rankings, landing at #293. Arguello rose twenty-four spots to #141 after winning his third Challenger title.
Ostrava
Two veteran Spaniards marched to the semi-final stage, 33-year-old Daniel Munoz-De La Nava and 37-year-old Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. #8 seed Ramirez Hidalgo impressively did it without dropping a set. Unfortunately for them youth prevailed in the end. 20-year-old Adam Pavlasek took out top seed Lucas Pouille in the quarterfinal, after which he did the same with Munoz-De La Nava after a long battle, 6-4 5-7 7-5. Ramirez Hidalgo fell to 25-year-old countryman Inigo Cervantes in a similar struggle, 6-3 3-6 7-5. Cervantes took out #2 seed James Ward in the second round. In the final Cervantes won after two tight sets, 7-6(5) 6-4, claiming his third Challenger title and making a big ranking jump of ninety-three to #184. Pavlasek is on the verge of the top 200, rising fifty-four spots to #209.
Turin
A similar trend here in Turin, with the top seeds failing to live up to their seedings. Top seed Malek Jaziri lost 6-2 7-5 to Jesse Huta Galung in the first round, with #2 seed Aljaz Bedene following suit against qualifier Gianluca Naso, 7-6(6) 6-4. #3 seed Tobias Kamke had already lost a round earlier, falling 6-2 6-7(5) 6-1 to qualifier Karen Khachanov. #4 seed Kimmer Coppejans survived a tough opening round draw against Elias Ymer, 3-6 6-0 6-3, after which he needed three more three set matches to reach the final, barely winning his semi-final against Adrian Ungur 6-3 2-6 7-6(5). Perhaps all these long matches took their toll, as Marco Cecchinato easily dismissed him in the final, 6-3 6-2, to claim his second Challenger title. It also saw him creep a bit closer to the top 100, rising twenty-six spots to #124. Coppejans is getting even closer, adding another good result after his tournament win in Mersin two weeks ago, rising eleven spots to #112.
2015 Busan, Aix en Provence, Cali, Karshi and Rome Challenger Previews & Predictions Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic
Busan Open
ATP Challenger Tour
Busan, South Korea
4-10 May 2015
Hardcourt, Rebound Ace
Prize Money: $100,000
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Yen-Hsun Lu (67)
2: Sam Groth (85)
3: Go Soeda (87)
4: Hyeon Chung (88)
5: Dudi Sela (90)
6: Tatsuma Ito (97)
7: Lukas Lacko (99)
8: Ryan Harrison (122)
The last direct acceptance is Takuto Niki, ranked 283rd. Ryan Harrison withdrew due to the ankle injury he attracted last week.
Second round match-up to watch
Denis Kudla
(4) Hyeon Chung – Denis Kudla
Chung cracked the top 100 for the first time after winning the Savannah Challenger two weeks ago and now faces an interesting opponent in Kudla here. Kudla seemed to be heading the same direction as Chung, but has shown to lack consistency after beating Viktor Troicki and taking world #14 Feliciano Lopez to 8-10 in the decider at the Australian Open to start off the year. He is now closer to dropping out of the top 150 than reaching the top 100.
Top Half
Just a year ago, top seed Yen-Hsun Lu would have been the overwhelming favorite here. But after his surprising loss last week and the rise of some other players, he might be ‘just’ one of the contenders. It isn’t unreasonable to put Chung up as the slight favorite, followed by Lu and with Dudi Sela closely behind the two. Tatsuma Ito and Grega Zemlja can be seen as outsiders.
Bottom Half
The top section seems to be a clear prey for Go Soeda, especially with the seed here getting replaced by a qualifier after Harrison’s withdrawal. However, he faces a tricky second round opponent in John-Patrick Smith, who is playing the best tennis of his career. The bottom section is very interesting, with two titlists of last week being there, Franko Skugor and Sam Groth. Groth might be able to keep his good run going, while that is very doubtful in Skugor’s case. Also in this section are Lukas Lacko, Luke Saville and Iliya Marchenko, who could all very well cause surprises and upset a tired Groth. Although we should remember that this is the venue where Groth hit the unofficial fastest serve of all time three years ago.
Predictions
Semis:
Chung d. Lu
Groth d. Soeda
Final:
Groth d. Chung
Open du Pays d’Aix
ATP Challenger Tour
Aix en Provence, France
2-10 May 2015
Red Clay
Prize Money: €64,000
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Blaz Kavcic (77)
2: Malek Jaziri (84)
3: Lucas Pouille (95)
4: Robin Haase (101)
5: Filip Krajinovic (104)
6: Norbert Gombos (111)
7: Andrey Golubev (117)
8: Alexander Zverev (119)
The last direct acceptance is Mathias Bourgue, ranked 214th. Former world #18 Florian Mayer received a wild card.
First round match-ups to watch
(6) Norbert Gombos – (WC) Florian Mayer
Tough break for Gombos, as he isn’t the favorite to win his first round match, despite being seeded. Mayer has already shown decent tennis after coming back from his one year injury lay-off, almost taking out world #10 Marin Cilic in the second round of Monte Carlo, falling 6-3 in the third set. It certainly is nice to have the jumping backhand dropshots back on tour again.
(7) Andrey Golubev – Aleksandr Nedovyesov
An interesting match-up between two players with similar high risk playing styles. Put them together and they can work wonders, as they showed by beating Federer and Wawrinka in doubles at their Davis Cup meeting last year, but on their own it’s a struggle. Golubev is 3-9 on the main tour this year, while Nedovyesov has failed to impress since reaching the Bergamo final in early February.
Top Half
This appears to be a fine draw for Alexander Zverev to make a deep run. The 17-year-old has a kind draw with Michal Przysiezny in the first round and a wildcard or qualifier in the second, while his potential quarterfinal opponent #3 seed Lucas Pouille comes off a disappointing loss last week and might be a bit more vulnerable here. In the top half it’s perhaps last week’s Ostrava winner Inigo Cervantes who has the best shot, being surrounded with players who are not that fond of clay, but for someone who is not used to perform two weeks in a row this might be a bit too much. This might be a good opportunity for Gastao Elias to pick up some form and make a deep run.
Bottom Half
A rare occurence, but I’m picking the wildcard as the favorite here. Florian Mayer should be able to fend off the rest of the contenders here, with unseeded Albert Montanes perhaps being his main competitor. The two are projected to meet in the quarterfinal of the bottom section. From the top section Robin Haase should be able to come through, despite him being capable of losing to a wide variety of players these days.
Predictions
Semis:
Zverev d. Elias
Mayer d. Haase
Final:
Mayer d. Zverev
Seguros Bolivar Open
ATP Challenger Tour
Cali, Colombia
4-10 May 2015
Red Clay
Prize Money: $50,000
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Blaz Rola (93)
2: Niels Desein (161)
3: Chase Buchanan (163)
4: Nicolas Jarry (189)
5: Guido Andreozzi (204)
6: Christian Lindell (222)
7: Juan Ignacio Londero (235)
8: Jose Hernandez-Fernandez (240)
The last direct acceptance is Ryusei Makiguchi, ranked 502nd.
First round match-up to watch
(6) Christian Lindell – Nicolas Barrientos
The two played a very close match last year in Italy, with Lindell taking it 6-4 in the third set. After Lindell’s final run last week and with Barrientos playing in his home country, there might be an upset in the making here.
Top Half
Top seed Blaz Rola is by far the highest ranked player here and it’s hard to look past him. Second seed Niels Desein is ranked sixty-eight spots below him, which is a lot. If Rola fails to reach the final here it would be a huge disappointment, since every loss is an upset. If I had to pick one player capable of pulling it off it would be #7 seed Juan Ignacio Londero, who is projected to meet Rola in the quarterfinal.
Bottom Half
Nicolas Jarry’s form has not been convincing lately, but this is a golden opportunity for him to gain momentum and a lot of ranking points. The only player who should be able to threaten him is #5 seed Guido Andreozzi in the semi-final, which is likely to be a close match. #2 seed Niels Desein is not a fan of clay and has had some bad losses on the surface as of late, making it unlikely he will be able to live up to his seeding.
Predictions
Semis:
Rola d. Lindell
Jarry d. Andreozzi
Final:
Rola d. Jarry
Karshi Challenger
ATP Challenger Tour
Karshi, Uzbekistan
4-9 May 2015
Hard, Plexipave
Prize Money: $50,000
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Teymuraz Gabashvili (100)
2: Farrukh Dustov (108)
3: Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (118)
4: Aslan Karatsev (166)
5: Evgeny Donskoy (196)
6: Ti Chen (203)
7: Brydan Klein (205)
8: Yuki Bhambri (216)
The last direct acceptance is Vladimir Ivanov, ranked 424th.
First round match-ups to watch
(6) Ti Chen – Matthew Ebden
Tough draw for the seed, with Ebden seeming to pick up some good form in his last two tournaments, reaching a quarter- and semi-final. If he plays to those standards, he should be able to beat Chen and make another deep run.
(5) Evgeny Donskoy – Ramkumar Ramanathan
Former world #63 Donskoy is sinking deeper and deeper, now even disappearing out of the top 200. Granted, Ramanathan’s development seems to be stagnating a bit and his results have been lacking, but against this Donskoy anything is possible.
Top Half
Top seed Teymuraz Gabashvili is playing his first hardcourt event after a respectable clay court stretch. The scheduling is a bit remarkable, giving that Roland Garros is around the corner, but he is probably looking to pick up some easy points. This should be doable, but he has a very dangerous quarterfinal opponent in Yuki Bhambri, who I think should be able to surprise Gabashvili, who will be lacking hardcourt rhythm. The two of them are very likely to decide the finalist from this half.
Bottom Half
Adrian Menendez-Maceiras has been playing the tennis of his career at the ripe age of 29 and is showing no signs of slowing down. He could very well rack up another final here, with fellow seeds Donskoy and Chen very uncertain to perform well, while #2 seed Farrukh Dustov is already out by the time I am writing this, making him a pretty strong favorite to do so.
Predictions
Semis:
Bhambri d. Karatsev
Menendez-Maceiras d. Ebden
Final:
Bhambri d. Menendez-Maceiras
Garden Open 2015
ATP Challenger Tour
Rome, Italy
4-9 May 2015
Red Clay
Prize Money: €42,500
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Aljaz Bedene (91)
2: Dustin Brown (102)
3: Radek Stepanek (120)
4: Kyle Edmund (130)
5: Marco Cecchinato (150)
6: Taro Daniel (164)
7: Konstantin Kravchuk (167)
8: Elias Ymer (171)
The last direct acceptance is Miroslav Mecir, ranked 216th. Russian sensation Andrey Rublev received a wildcard.
First round match-up to watch
(6) Taro Daniel – Gerald Melzer
This is bound to be a great match. Melzer lucked out at Munich last week, getting a bye into the second round as a qualifier, where Pablo Andujar retired against him in the first set. However, he showed he was deserving of that luck by beating world #44 Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinal, before falling to #26 Philipp Kohlschreiber in the semi-final after a long battle, 2-6 6-1 6-4. Daniel comes off a tournament win at Vercelli, so he is well at home on the Italian clay. They faced each other twice last year, splitting the matches, both in straight sets.
Top Half
Top seed Aljaz Bedene has not been convincing on clay so far, so it’s hard to make him the clear cut favorite. One of Melzer or Daniel should be able to beat him in the quarterfinal, for instance. The finalist is likely to be one of those three, however, with the bottom section (headed by #4 seed Kyle Edmund) being considerably weaker.
Bottom Half
17-year-old Andrey Rublev has shown he can hang at ATP level after beating three top 100 players in just as many events, so he might well be able to continue that good run here. He is projected to face Marco Cecchinato, last week’s Turin winner, and Radek Stepanek, but names like that shouldn’t frighten him and he might even be the favorite against both men. The bottom section is headed by the always unpredictable Dustin Brown, who might find another youngster on his path to the semi-final, 18-year-old Elias Ymer.
2015 Guadalajara, Santos, Savannah and Vercelli Challenger Previews & Picks Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic
Zurich Jalisco Open presentado por Aeromexico y Lacoste
ATP Challenger Tour
Guadalajara, Mexico
20-26 April 2015
Hardcourt
Prize Money: $100,000
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (115)
2: Austin Krajicek (121)
3: Ryan Harrison (126)
4: Michal Przysiezny (142)
5: Denis Kudla (150)
6: John-Patrick Smith (155)
7: Rajeev Ram (185)
8: Brydan Klein (204)
The last direct acceptance is Adam El Mihdawy, ranked 339th.
First round match-up to watch
(3) Ryan Harrison – Juan Ignacio Londero
Harrison comes off a very tough loss in QR1 of Houston, where he lost to world #453 Thiago Monteiro. Naturally, this match against Londero is another one he should win, but nothing is sure with Harrison these days. Londero had a good showing at Leon, where he pushed the eventual finalist Adrian Menendez-Maceiras to three sets in the first round. Nevertheless, Londero’s experience on hardcourts is minimal, while it’s Harrison’s best surface by a large margin, having played matches on the surface at tournaments and against players Londero can only dream of.
Top Half
29-year-old top seed Menendez-Maceiras is playing the tennis of his career, already having reached two Challenger finals this year, together with qualifying for his first ever Masters event at Miami. He is hoping to improve on his record in Challenger finals here, which sits at a poor 1-7. He should be able to put himself in a position to do that, landing an easy draw, which includes a potential semi-final encounter against fourth seed Michal Przysiezny, who is far from his best form.
Bottom Half
Harrison Signing Busted Racquet for the Fan who Snagged It.
If Harrison can pick up his game after the disappointing loss in Houston, he will be the favorite to not only reach the final, but to win the entire tournament. Opposition in this half will come from countryman Denis Kudla, who did well at Monte Carlo to qualify into the main draw. However, this event is on the other side of the world and played on a different surface, so he may struggle to adapt. John-Patrick Smith has also been in very good form this year, but under normal circumstances shouldn’t be able to threaten Harrison.
Predictions
Semis:
Menendez-Maceiras d. Ram
Harrison d. Smith
Final:
Harrison d. Menendez-Maceiras
Campeonato Internacional de Tenis de Santos
ATP Challenger Tour
Santos, Brazil
20-26 April 2015
Red Clay
Prize Money: $50,000
The last direct acceptance is Martin Alund, ranked 302nd.
First round match-up to watch
(Q) Agustin Velotti – Christian Lindell
At one point in 2013, Velotti was close to reaching the top 150, but his ranking took a hit after he struggled with injury for a long time, now being ranked outside of the top 400. Despite all his struggles, he beat Lindell in straight sets at a Challenger in Colombia last September, so this is a good opportunity for him to get his ranking back on track.
Top Half
Third seed Andre Ghem has a good opportunity to rise to the occasion in his home country and make a deep run. His section includes fifth seed Chase Buchanan, who isn’t all that comfortable on red clay. Ghem beat Buchanan in a truly epic match last year at Chitre on hardcourt, when he won 7-6(6) 6-7(7) 7-6(5). Top seed Maximo Gonzalez hasn’t been all that impressive this year, including a loss against Ghem in the second round of Le Gousier a couple of weeks ago.
Bottom Half
Fourth seed Guido Pella impressed at San Luis Potosi a couple of weeks ago, where he convincingly took down the title. If he keeps up that form he will surely be a contender again here, with Guilherme Clezar and Blaz Rola being his main rivals. While Rola has been in dire form in his last couple of tournaments, Clezar can be very dangerous while playing in his home country. He showed this in Sao Paulo at the Challenger Tour Finals last year, where he surprised everyone by reaching the final, beating three top 100 players in the process.
Predictions
Semis:
Gonzalez d. Ghem
Pella d. Clezar
Final:
Pella d. Gonzalez
St. Joseph’s/Candler Savannah Challenger
ATP Challenger Tour
Savannah, GA, USA
20-26 April 2015
Green Clay, Har-Tru
Prize Money: $50,000
The last direct acceptance is Robby Ginepri, ranked 255th.
First round match-ups to watch
(Q) Julio Peralta – Dennis Novikov
Peralta is quite a sight to behold and may very well be the greatest player you have never heard of. The 33-year-old Chilean only plays a handful of tournaments every year, but can win Futures without dropping a set while doing so. Here he beat two top 400 players in qualifying and has a good chance of continuing his run against Novikov.
Julio Peralta, the greatest player you have never heard of, winning three B2B great points at the Savannah CH: http://t.co/SwDNAmkCv1
Two Argentinians facing off in a match which seems to be a guarantee for a three set encounter. Zeballos has obviously gone a long way since winning an ATP title on clay by beating Nadal in the final, as he is now close to being ranked outside of the top 150, incapable of finding any kind of decent form. Arguello arguably struggles similarly in the consistency department, as he showed last week in Sarasota, easily beating top seed and world #69 Tim Smyczek 6-4 6-2 in the first round, before losing to James McGee in the second.
Top Half
Tim Smyczek
Despite his surprising first round exit last week, top seed Smyczek should still be marked the favorite to come through here. Third seed Facundo Bagnis will be confident after reaching the final of Savannah last week, but as we saw in his first round match there against Alexander Zverev, where he saved five match points, he can just as easily go out early. Nevertheless, if he faces Smyczek in the semi-final he should be confident, as he beat him in straight sets during their first round encounter here last year.
Bottom Half
A half that is very tough to predict. I feel like giving fourth seed Hyeon Chung the edge, despite his comfortable loss against Zeballos last week. Second seed Ruben Bemelmans admitted he doesn’t feel confident on this surface, so with that mindset it’s hard to see him making a deep run here. The winner of Zeballos – Arguello in the first round may well go deep here, perhaps all the way to the final.
Predictions
Semis:
Bagnis d. Smyczek
Chung d. Arguello
Final:
Chung d. Bagnis
Citta Di Vercelli-Trofeo Multimed
ATP Challenger Tour
Vercelli, Italy
20-26 April 2015
Red Clay
Prize Money: €42,500
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Filip Krajinovic (92)
2: Dustin Brown (105)
3: Igor Sijsling (128)
4: Kyle Edmund (129)
5: Kimmer Coppejans (146)
6: Marco Cecchinato (149)
7: Mate Delic (162)
8: Andrea Arnaboldi (177)
The last direct acceptance is Antonio Veic, 239th.
Top Half
Taro Daniel
With top seed Filip Krajinovic withdrawing, he is replaced by lucky loser Omar Giacalone, this is a great opportunity for a non-seed to make a deep run. Taro Daniel seems the best pick to do so. He sits in the top section, coming off two good weeks on clay at Casablanca and Mersin. Antonio Veic is another player with a decent chance, but he is highly unpredictable. Fourth seed Kyle Edmund is a good pick to reach the semi-final from the bottom half. Even though his clay résumé is practically non-existent, the talented 20-year-old is the best player in the section and may well be able to adapt to the surface.
Bottom Half
It will be interesting to see how Kimmer Coppejans holds up after taking the title in Mersin last week. Here he will have another excellent opportunity to make a deep run and even win another title. He has a late start, playing his first round on Wednesday, so he has extra time to rest. Last week’s Mersin semi-finalist Inigo Cervantes, who lost to Coppejans, is also placed in this half, in a section which is headed by Marco Cecchinato.
Tennis Atlantic 