2013 ATP Dusseldorf, Nice Previews
Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com
It’s time for the final stops on the road to Roland Garros for the ATP World Tour.
ATP Dusseldorf
Power Horse Cup
ATP World Tour 250
Dusseldorf, Germany
May 19-May 25, 2013
Prize Money: € 410,200
Dusseldorf was formerly known as the “World Team Cup”, a team based event, but now it is just a normal clay court ATP 250.
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes)
1: Janko Tipsarevic
2: Tommy Haas
3: Juan Monaco
4: Phillip Kohlschreiber
Dusseldorf manages to bring in a solid field for a pre-slam 250.
First round matchups to watch:
(5)Lukas Rosol vs. Daniel Brands
Rosol is at a career high ranking of 33, and is looking to break into the top 30 with a solid showing. He won Bucharest of course and has been red hot this year. Now he will run into Brands, who has a 3-2 career H2H against him, though they last played in 2011. Brands is also at a career high ranking of 58 and is having his own excellent year. This should be a matchup of heavy ball strikers.
Top Half:
Janko Tipsarevic, who has had a miserable year thus far, will once again try to get it going against a qualifier. After that, he could face countryman Viktor Troicki, Bordeaux Challenger semifinalist David Goffin, Grega Zemlja or Michael Russell. Troicki made headlines with a crazy meltdown in Rome in a match against Ernest Gulbis.
Juan Monaco, who defeated Tipsarevic in the first round of Madrid but lost in the first round of Rome to eventual semifinalist Benoit Paire, will play a qualifier or Go Soeda. For the next round, expect him to meet one of Benjamin Becker/Tobias Kamke, Dmitry Tursunov/Nikolay Davydenko, this is quite a hollow section for Pico.
Bottom Half:
Phillip Kohlschreiber, who retired in the 3rd round in Rome with symptoms of vertigo, will play Igor Sijsling or a qualifier. If he is healthy, he should face Rosol/Brands or Jan Hajek/Evgeny Donskoy in a big quarterfinal matchup. Donskoy lost in the first round qualifying of Rome.
Tommy Haas, the German number one who was dropped out of the first round in Rome, will play Blaz Kavcic or the underappreciated Ivan Dodig. The winner could face Jarkko Nieminen/Lukas Lacko, or Roberto Bautista Agut/Gilles Muller. Nieminen lost Round 1 to Gulbis in Rome, while Bautista Agut has slumped a bit after issues with his wrist. Haas defeated Dodig in the Munich semis recently.
Dark Horse: Dmitry Tursunov
Tursunov still has talent left at age 30, but he is just inconsistent at this point with it. Overall, he has a 10-6 record at the ATP level this year and his ranking is back to 57. If he beats countryman Davydenko, Becker/Kamke should be easy enough and then he probably runs into Monaco. They have only met once back in ’06 and thus it would be a fresh slate. That match could shake out either way, with Monaco being a slight favorite heading in. The quarter above with Tipsarevic, Goffin and Troicki as top players is considerably weaker, so it really comes down to the quarterfinal match in regards to how far he can advance.
Predictions:
Semis:
Monaco d. Goffin
Kohlschreiber d. Haas
Monaco, if in form,should cruise to the final. Goffin did well to make the Bordeaux Challenger semis but he may be fatigued from that, probably still has enough to beat the struggling Tipsarevic. Haas beat Kohlischreiber in the Munich final, but I have a feeling that if Peppo is healthy he will get revenge this time.
Final:
Monaco d. Kohlschreiber
This final is a tossup based upon form and health, as a Haas-Monaco final would be, but I’ll just flip a coin and say Monaco wins either way, probably in 3 sets.
ATP Nice
Open de Nice Cote d’Azur
ATP World Tour 250
Nice, France
May 19-May 25, 2013
Prize Money: € 410,200
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes)
1: Albert Montanes*
2: Gilles Simon
3: Sam Querrey
4: John Isner
*Tomas Berdych was supposed to be the top seed in Nice but he withdrew, moving Albert Montanes into the number 1 seed line.
1st round matchups to watch:
Santiago Giraldo vs (WC) Gael Monfils
Giraldo is your average, steady but not fantastic clay courter, but what makes this match interesting is the form of Monfils. Le Monf is in the final of the Bordeaux Challenger after limping and jumping his way through injuries and rust and everything else this year. It is impossible to predict what form and health he will show up in here. He could either do really well or bomb out in the first round. It really is something to watch.
Top Half:
The alternate, Montanes, will play Albert Ramos or Victor Hanescu. Then, Ramos will likely face Marcel Granollers or Carlos Berlocq. Leo Mayer and Paul-Henri Mathieu are also options in a literally wide open section.
Sam Querrey, who has looked aloof on Red Clay thus far, will play a qualifier and then could play Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Alejandro Falla, Ricardas Berankos or Denis Istomin. Querrey has been poor on clay, but this section is one of the least troubling he could ever hope for.
Bottom Half:
Top French seed Gilles Simon will play Paolo Lorenzi or a qualifier and then could meet up with Madrid semifinalist Pablo Andujar, if Andujar can beat Lleyton Hewitt and Andreas Seppi/Yen-Hsun Lu. Seppi has been playing below his normal level as of late.
John Isner, who has also struggled this year and looked aloof on clay, will play Robin Haase or Marinko Matosevic, and odds are lose to either one. After that, it will be Monfils/Giraldo, a qualifier, or Fabio Fognini.
Dark Horse: Gael Monfils
Monfils could either lose in the first round or win the entire tournament. It is that wide open of a draw and he is that unpredictable right now. After the match with Giraldo he could play Fognini again, a difficult but winnable match. If he gets through that Robin Haase is his likely opponent, followed by Andujar, Lorenzi or countryman Simon, who he just loves to rally with.
Predictions:
Semis:
Ramos d. Roger-Vasselin
Fognini d. Andujar
The top half is open and weak but I’ll go with Ramos, and randomly go with Roger-Vasselin simply because he is ok on clay and the home player. Even a qualifier could emerge as a semifinalist in that section.
Fognini should be able to get by Monfils and Haase and Andujar is dangerous but inconsistent. I say he beats the steady but bland Simon, though.
Final:
Fognini d. Ramos
This is a difficult tournament to predict, but I’ll go with Fogna in what would be a rematch of their 2nd round Monte Carlo encounter this year.
