Favorites Advance in Tuesday @NewYorkOpen Action Steve Fogleman at the Ancestral Home of the New York Islanders
A second day of rain did nothing but make you feel better about yourself for coming out to watch indoor tennis. And the weather outside did nothing to dampen the confidence of today’s winners.
Borat Sagdiyev
Jordan Thompson played Ivo Karlovic’s game and beat him at it in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6(2). While serving only 6 aces to Karlovic’s 11, the mustachioed Australian won an amazing 86% of his first service points and was never broken. From one big man to another, Thompson moves on to face American John Isner.
Soonwoo Kwon doused the hopes of qualifier Go Soeda, 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3, after Soeda snuck up and took the second set tiebreak. Kwon nailed six aces in the third set after only four aces in the first two stanzas. Kwon’s service game will next have to match up against the tournament’s #2 seed Milos Raonic.
Paolo “Houdini” Lorenzo
Paolo Lorenzi pulled a Pure Houdini today. He was down a set and a break to World #159 Danilo Petrovic, the lowest ranked player in the main draw. Petrovic, who was two games away from winning his first ATP Tour main draw match, disputed a call in the 8th game and continued to argue through the break and into the third set, where he was destroyed by Lorenzi, 6-0. Someone on twitter accused him of match-fixing, but I saw a guy out there who desperately wanted to win his first (at 28 years old) and he simply unraveled. Lorenzi, a quarterfinalist last year, faces Kecmanovic for a chance to return to New York’s Elite Eight.
You know that one match that you see on an Order of Play and you say, “that’s my match?” Me too. Yesterday, that match was Kecmanovic-Paul. And it disappointed. Today was no different. Today’s “my match” was Dominik Koepfer and Brayden Schnur. Schnur, a finalist at last year’s New York Open, clearly had the weight of history on his racket. He could not deliver a repeat performance of his 2019 run, and although the chants of “Let’s go, Canada” were louder in the second set, they did little to raise his game. For his part, Koepfer was consistent throughout the 6-3, 6-4 win. Earlier, Kyle Edmund eased past Yasatuka Uchiyama and will play Dominik Koepfer in the second round. That’s all for me until the quarterfinals on Friday here at NYCB Live, home of the Nassau Coliseum. See you on Valentine’s Day from the Guy-land.
The five ATP 250 level hard court stops in the run-up to the Australian Open saw five different players claim titles and find form during the first portion of the 2019 season. Here is your look at all of January’s ATP action.
Roberto Bautista Agut claimed a 9th career ATP title defeating Tomas Berdych 6-4 3-6 6-3 in the final, after stunning world #1 Novak Djokovic 3-6 7-6(6) 6-4 in the semifinals, one of the best wins of his career. The Spaniard also claimed wins against Matteo Berrettini, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, and Stan Wawrinka.
It was a great comeback tournament for Berdych who beat Philipp Kohlschreiber, Fernando Verdasco, Pierre Hugues Herbert and Marco Cecchinato. David Goffin and Herbert won the doubles title over Haase/Middelkoop.
Kevin Anderson is a dark horse for the Australian Open title and he was the player to beat in India, capturing the Chennai title 7-6 6-7 7-6 over fellow big serving veteran Ivo Karlovic. Gilles Simon, Jaume Munar, and Laslo Djere also fell to Anderson as he didn’t drop a set until the final. Karlovic, the oldest top level player on tour, defeated Felix Auger Aliassime, Evgeny Donskoy, Ernests Gulbis, and Steve Darcis, a veteran on the comeback trail.
Home heroes Bopanna and Sharan defeated Bambridge/O’Mara in the doubles final.
Kei Nishikori came through as the favorite in Brisbane, defeating rising Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-4 3-6 6-2 in the final. Nishikori didn’t drop a set prior to the final, racking up wins against Denis Kudla, Grigor Dimitrov, and Jeremy Chardy. Medvedev’s path to the final was defeating Andy Murray, Milos Raonic, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, three capable and crafty veterans.
Marcus Daniell and Wesley Koolhof beat Ram/Salisbury in the doubles final.
Sydney native Alex De Minaur triumphed at home for his maiden ATP title. The Demon edged tour veteran Andreas Seppi 7-5 7-6 for his 5th straight match win. ADM defeated Dusan Lajovic, Reilly Opelka, Jordan Thompson, and Gilles Simon to reach the final, he didn’t drop a set all week.
The veteran Seppi was happy to find form in what was a challenging tournament for him. Jeremy Chardy, Martin Klizan, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Diego Schwartzman were his victims on the week in some nip and tuck matches.
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares defeated the Colombians Cabal/Farah in the doubles final.
Tennys Sandgren has a lot of points to defend in Melbourne, but he enters the AO in great form after claiming his first career ATP title. Sandgren won Auckland without dropping a set this week. Sandgren blitzed past Cam Norrie who grew up in Auckland. Max Marterer, Marco Cecchinato, Leonardo Mayer, and Philipp Kohlschreiber were all defeated by Sandgren.
Norrie defeated Benoit Paire, Joao Sousa, Taylor Fritz and J.L. Struff to reach the final. Ben McLachlan/ Jan-Lennard Struff defeated Klaasen/Venus in the doubles final.
Ivo Karlovic and Kevin Anderson Smashing Aces at ATP Pune 2019 Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
The lesser watched ATP 250 this week is India’s only ATP tournament on hard courts in Pune. Big servers are finding success so far with Kevin Anderson and Ivo Karlovic into the quarterfinals. What does the rest of the week hold?
Tournament favorite Kevin Anderson continued his good form in exhibition play defeating Laslo Djere in straights in his opening match. Jaume Munar has impressed with wins against Radu Albot and Simone Bolelli but Anderson is the heavy favorite here and should dominate Munar.
Defending champion Simon will be favored against his countryman Paire, despite dropping a set against Ilya Ivashka in his first match. Paire already has wins against Thiago Monteiro and Jiri Vesely. The h2h favors Simon 5-3 and he has points to defend here. Simon should grind past Paire.
Veterans Darcis and Jaziri will be happy to have quarterfinal appearances here. Darcis missed the 2018 season with a long term elbow injury, while Jaziri is playing some of the best tennis of his career at 34. Neither player has that many years on tour left and will cherish every opportunity to compete at a high level that they have left. Jaziri battled past Ramkumar Ramanathan, while Darcis has wins against Roberto Carballes Baena and Michael Mmoh. This should be a close match and Jaziri should be favored.
Ivo Karlovic vs Ernests Gulbis
Two players that are fun to watch, the big server Karlovic is 39 and has never defeated Gulbis. However, he upset Felix Auger Aliassime and also defeated Evgeny Donskoy to reach this stage. Gulbis upset Hyeon Chung in round 2 after defeating Pedro Sousa in round 1. A perennial underachiever, when Gulbis finds form he’s a threat at any tournament. Karlovic has lost all but his serve at this point and Gulbis should find a way to win
Semis
Anderson d. Simon
Gulbis d. Jaziri
This is Kevin Anderson’s tournament to lose, but keep an eye out for Gulbis and Simon. Jaziri is also seeking his first ATP title.
It’s Quarterfinals Friday at Charlottesville Challenger
Paris it is not, but eight men are vying for smaller hardware this weekend at the Charlottesville, Virginia Men’s Pro Tennis Challenger at the Boar’s Head Resort, home of the University of Virginia tennis program.
I’ve attended this event seven times in the past, but only once for the final weekend of the event. As more than half the playing field had been dismissed prior to my arrival, I found the resort to be less crowded and was surprised to see players hanging around who’d lost their singles and doubles matches, just killing time before Knoxville.
First up this afternoon is 8 seed Peter Polansky against Jelle Sels of the Netherlands. The Canadian is a 2013 finalist at this event and is now 9-3 in Charlottesville main draw matches. This will be a first time match-up between the players.
ADVANTAGE: POLANSKY
Favorite “Son” Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of the University of Virginia impressively dismissed 2017 Charlottesville champion Tim Smyczek yesterday and will need another big showing today against 2 seed Michael Mmoh to advance to the semifinals. Mmoh won a two-setter against the tricky Evgeny Karlovsky on Thursday, and he was happy to get out in two sets after the Russian pulled the upset on Thanasi Kokkinakis on Wednesday. Mmoh is now 8-2 in his last ten matches on hard courts and has a 7-3 cumulative record in this event. This is another first time meeting.
ADVANTAGE: MMOH
Bradley Klahn is assured of being ranked inside the top 100 next week, and how high he’ll go in the rankings depends on where he lands this weekend. The tournament’s top seed, Klahn hasn’t disappointed in the early rounds, and today will be a real test in Bjorn Fratangelo, who is enjoying a resurgence of his form. Fratangelo is 9-1 in his last 10 hard court matches. Fratangelo also owns a 3-1 head to head advantage over Klahn. Expect this one to go three.
ADVANTAGE: FRATANGELO
The happy hour match will feature the biggest man in the entire American Fall Challenger circuit: Ivo Karlovic. 2015 Charlottesville finalist Tommy Paul will try to size him up today. Paul is a lucky loser who’s ripped off two big wins after failing to qualify, beating Noah Rubin and Kamil Majchrzak in straight sets. Both players are 8-2 in their last 10 hard court matches and something will have to give. In yet another first time meeting between players, I’m going to have to go with Dr. Ivo.
The night session was partially cancelled due to rain, but 2 (and a half) matches still completed on day 1 of the main draw at the BB&T Atlanta Open 2018.
For over 2 hours Alex De Minaur battled with lucky loser Hubert Hurkacz of Poland. Despite having played over the weekend in qualifying, Hurkacz came out as the fresher player roaring past De Minaur 6-1 in the first set. From there ADM steeled himself and stepped up in a big way though, battling past the Pole in consecutive tiebreaks to win the match 1-6 7-6 7-6, in the end coming back from a set and a break down to win.
De Minaur was strong on second serve despite generating fewer chances on return, breaks were traded early in set 2 and Hurkacz saved a set point to force a tiebreak that De Minaur dominated to force a third. Hurkacz was pressed hard in the third set, nearly getting broken early, and getting broken to let the Australian young gun serve for the match. Hurkacz broke back to continue the action but a closer third set tiebreak saw De Minaur squeak it 7-5. Next for ADM is defending champion John Isner.
Lukas Lacko had a far easier time against qualifier Prajnesh Gunneswaran. The Slovak veteran enjoyed one way traffic in his first match of the tournament prevailing 6-2 6-2 in less than an hour. The errors started early and often off the Gunneswaran racquet as he went 4-0 down and never truly regained his foothold in the match.
In the third match of the day Ivo Karlovic was well on his way to (most likely) wrapping things up in straight sets against Donald Young until the rain came. Karlovic was up 6-2 5-5 as Young played a poor first set. DY recovered a bit in the second to keep things on an even keel, but Karlovic’s serve continued to trouble him. The match will conclude tomorrow.
Tuesday’s singles action features a multitude of matches. Chardy vs. Berankis and Norrie vs. Jaziri start the day. The Ryan Harrison vs. James Duckworth contest that was scratched on Monday due to rain will follow along with Ramanathan vs. Fritz.
The Karlovic and Young match will conclude third on stadium, with Copil vs. Tiafoe, and Youhzny vs Reinberg the remaining singles matches on Stadium. On grandstand it will be Kokkinakis vs. Rubin and Smyczek vs. Zverev with Bolt vs. Baghdatis the late match. Two doubles matches will also take place tomorrow.
The doubles results today saw Bambridge/O’Mara, Raja/Skupski, and Monroe/Smith advance.
Grass Court Season Kicks off With Libema Open 250 in the Netherlands Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
If you are tired of the red clay, you’re in for a treat starting Monday. The ATP grass court season begins with the 250 stop in the Netherlands that is a joint event with the WTA. Here is your look at the field with predictions for the week ahead.
Top Half:
The second round match between Frenchmen Adrian Mannarino and Jeremy Chardy looks to be a great one. Chardy has to defeat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez first to get there. I’ll go with Mannarino to find his form back on a faster surface and reach the quarters. At that stage Italy’s Andreas Seppi should be his opponent. Seppi will need to edge Mackenzie McDonald and Vasek Pospisil or Alex Bolt to get that far. Mannarino is my pick to reach the semis.
Matt Ebden is my dark horse pick this week. Pierre-Hugues Herbert comes off a doubles final in Paris and Gilles Muller is struggling (his round 1 and 2 opponents). Presuming he beats Muller he should defeat fellow journeyman Yuichi Sugita in the quarters. Sugita gets Nikoloz Basilashvili in round 1 (he struggles on grass), with Marius Copil or Aljaz Bedene to follow, both beatable opponents.
Tournament favorite Richard Gasquet draws Evgeny Donskoy or qualifier Franko Skugor in round 2. Gasquet should win and also defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarters. The Greek opens with local wild card Tallon Griekspoor, Malek Jaziri or Max Purcell will follow.
Ivo Karlovic vs. Robin Haase looks like a crucial round 1 match. I’ll back the struggling veteran Karlovic to win that and also defeat Marcos Baghdatis or Bernard Tomic to reach the quarters. Tomic has a great chance in theory, but he’s far from consistent these days. Look for Karlvoic to face Daniil Medvedev in the quarters. Medvedev is good on grass and should upset Fernando Verdasco in round 2 after defeating Yuki Bhambri in round 1. I’ll back Karlovic to reach the semis.
Mannarino beating Gasquet would be an upset but I’m not convinced Gasquet’s entirely fit and Mannarino is the type of player who badly needs points at the faster court tournaments like this.
Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta and Albert Ramos Top Seeds at ATP Quito Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
The ATP Golden Swing kicks off with a 250 on clay in Quito, Ecuador, Spanish players feature heavily in the field. Here is your full preview, with predictions.
Top Half:
Fresh off success in Davis Cup, Pablo Carreno Busta should be able to defeat Rogerio Dutra Silva/qualifier. PCB is in a weak section with Ivo Karlovic/Ernesto Escobedo/Corentin Moutet/Adrian Menendez-Maceiras awaiting in the quarters. None of those players have performed well on clay at the tour level, and PCB should roll into the semis.
Paolo Lorenzi looks good in his section, he faces a qualifier, Nicolas Jarry/Tommy Robredo or Stefano Travaglia/Pablo Andujar to follow. Andujar is returning from injury so Travaglia should be favored, Robredo could find form as a wild card, but Lorenzi over his countryman Travaglia is my pick for the quarters.
Albert Ramos should beat Roberto Quiroz/Yannick Hanfmann in the second round. Victor Estrella plays great in Quito, and I have him upsetting Thomaz Bellucci, and then Marco Cecchinato/Gerald Melzer to reach the quarters. VEB has beaten Bellucci three previous times in Quito. VEB should beat Melzer in the second round, and then I have him upsetting Ramos.
Gael Monfils takes on young gun Casper Ruud (or Carlos Berlocq) in round 2. Horacio Zeballos faces Thiago Monteiro, Peter Polansky or a qualifier will follow. I have Monfils beating Monteiro (and Ruud) to reach the semis.
2017 ATP Los Cabos Preview and Predictions Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
The ATP is back again in Mexico, for the 250 in Los Cabos. Here is your full preview with predictions.
Abierto Mexicano De Tenis Mifel Presentado Por Cinemex
ATP World Tour 250
July 31-August 5, 2017
Los Cabos, Mexico
Surface: Hard
Prize Money: $637,395
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes) (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Tomas Berdych (14)
2: Sam Querrey (24)
3: Albert Ramos-Vinolas (23)
4: Feliciano Lopez (28)
For a 250, Los Cabos has attracted a solid field.
Top Half:
Coming off the Wimbledon semifinals, Tomas Berdych should dispatch Akira Santillan or Konstantin Kravchuk, and then do the same against Adrian Mannarino in the quarters. Mannarino opens with Jason Jung, Tatsuma Ito or Bjorn Fratangelo will follow.
Albert Ramos is the #3 seed, but he’s not good on hard courts usually. I have Mikhail Kukushkin building on the momentum he built at the challenger level and defeating both Taylor Fritz and Ramos to reach the quarterfinals. Canadian Peter Polansky is 12-3 since Wimbledon, he should beat Yasutaka Uchiyama for the second week in a row, then upset Thanasi Kokkinakis, who hasn’t yet reached his best level since returning to the tour from injury. Kokkinakis will be favored over a struggling Frances Tiafoe. Kukushkin is my pick to reach the semifinals from this weak section.
Bottom Half:
Sam Querrey should build off his great showing at Wimbledon to defeat Evan King or local wild card Manuel Sanchez. Blaz Kavcic just won a challenger title and should have the inside track against Vincent Millot, Fernando Verdasco should be solid enough on hard courts to defeat Ernesto Escobedo, who is in poor form, and then Kavcic, before falling to Querrey.
Feliciano Lopez has struggled this season, but he should beat Dennis Novikov or recent Newport finalist Matt Ebden. I have Ivo Karlovic defeating Quentin Halys, and then Damir Dzumhur or Taro Daniel. Karlovic should serve his way into the semifinals over Lopez in what would be an entertaining quarterfinal.
Dark Horse: Mikhail Kukushkin
In a weak section, Kukushkin should make a run into the quarterfinals, where he will at least have a punchers chance against Berdych.
Predictions
Semis Berdych d. Kukushkin
Querrey d. Karlovic
The top 2 seeds should face off in the final, I’ll back Querrey’s form to win another ATP title in Mexico, but it could go either way.
Pouille and Muller Claim Second ATP Titles of the Season Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
ATP Stuttgart
A great comeback for Frenchman Lucas Pouille secured his second ATP title of the season, the first final of the 2017 grass court season was decided 4-6 7-6 6-4, as Pouille was pushed to the limit in the second set tiebreak, and after taking that, battled hard in the third to break Lopez’s effective grass court serve and volley and hold his own serve to secure the title. Pouille barely got out of his opening match, winning close second and third set tiebreaks and saving a match point to defeat J.L. Struff, he went on to defeat Philipp Kohlschreiber and Benoit Paire in close matches, showing his mental toughness this week.
Lopez chip and charge helped him reach his first tour final of the season, the Spaniard, happy to be on grass, got past Gilles Simon, Jeremy Chardy, Tomas Berdych, and Mischa Zverev, all of those matches going three sets except for his contest against Simon as the Mercedes Cup featured a lot of close matches this week.
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares defeated Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic to take the doubles title.
ATP Rosmalen
34 year old Gilles Muller continued his best season on tour, winning a second title this year 7-6 7-6 in narrow fashion over fellow big server Ivo Karlovic at the Ricoh Open. Muller won tiebreaks this week against Andreas Seppi and Alexander Zverev, also winning in three sets against Aljaz Bedene to reach the final as his serve and volley game was lethal on grass.
Karlovic, 38, reached his first final this season, the veteran upset Marin Cilic in three sets in the semifinals, Daniil Medvedev and Stefan Kozlov were his other victims on the week, as both players will be difficult early round opponents at Wimbledon.
Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo continued the trend of veteran success in Rosmalen as they defeated Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram.
2017 ATP Stuttgart and Rosmalen Preview and Predictions Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
The 2017 ATP grass court season starts this week with two European tour stops that are on the 250 level of the tour. Clay season is over, so get ready for fast paced action on the green grass of Stuttgart and Den Bosch.
Mercedes Cup
ATP World Tour 250
Stuttgart, Germany
June 12-18, 2017
Surface: Grass
Prize Money: €630,785
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes) (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Roger Federer (5)
2: Grigor Dimitrov (12)
3: Tomas Berdych (14)
4: Lucas Pouille (16)
Stuttgart has a great field this week, highlighted by one of the best grass court players of all time, Roger Federer, along with a core group of solid tour players for a 250.
First round matchups to watch:
Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs. (WC)Tommy Haas
A battle between solid grass court players, the 39 year old Haas has lost more than a step, but he’s a very crafty player at his age, and will give the big server Herbert plenty of trouble. Herbert has not been able to consistently compete at the tour level in singles, and Haas should get the win in his German homeland.
Florian Mayer vs. Jeremy Chardy
The unorthodox shotmaking of Mayer is a good fit for grass, and he’s the favorite in Germany against the higher ranked Chardy, who hits the ball hard and plays aggressively, but often racks up a high error count in the process. Mayer should find form and notch the win.
(7)Gilles Simon vs. Feliciano Lopez
Lopez has won both meetings these veterans have played on grass, Simon is in poor form, and Lopez, happy to be off of the slow, high bouncing clay, should be able to whip his serve in and advance forward enough to get the win and reach round 2.
Marcos Baghdatis vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber
Baghdatis has been in terrible form and hasn’t won a match since January, but he’s been good on grass against the German, who for his part has lost three straight matches and isn’t in the best form himself. Baghdatis badly needs this win, but in Germany, Kohlschreiber is a sensible favorite.
Top Half:
Roger Federer, the heavy favorite this tournament, will open his bid against the Haas/Herbert winner, look for Roger to tune up and get the win, before doing the same against serve and volleyer Mischa Zverev, who is happy to be off of clay, and should beat Malek Jaziri and either Yannick Hanfmann or Marton Fucsovics in round 2.
Tomas Berdych and Feliciano Lopez should contest the other quarterfinal in the top half, Lopez will face Mayer/Chardy in round 2, and should be the favorite in that match, if he defeats Simon. Berdych will get a dangerous contest against Bernard Tomic for his first match, presuming Tomic puts away the ageless Stephane Robert. Given Tomic’s awful form (four straight defeats), Berdych should make it to the quarters, where I have him knocking off Lopez to reach the semis. Berdych and Lopez have split the h2h 6-6.
Bottom Half:
Grigor Dimitrov will face Andrey Kuznetsov or Jerzy Janowicz in round 2, Janowicz is far removed from his success on grass, although he still has plenty of power. Kuznetsov has had a good season, but Dimitrov is a favorite in this section for a reason, having found a bit of form at Roland Garros. Viktor Troicki should beat Benoit Paire and Nikoloz Basilashvili/Peter Gojowczyk to reach the quarters. Dimitrov will be the favorite whether it’s Troicki or someone else in the quarters.
Lucas Pouille begins his tournament against either Jan-Lennard Struff or Lukas Lacko. Pouille isn’t perfect on grass by any measure but he should be good enough to reach the quarters before falling to Steve Johnson. The in-form American Johnson faces Max Marterer first up, then the Kohlschreiber/Baghdatis winner, a difficult but winnable path. Johnson’s game is built for fast surfaces.
Dark Horse: Feliciano Lopez
The unseeded Spaniard has every shot to at least make the quarters, and will have a punchers chance against Berdych. Federer is probably too much in the semis, but after a rough few months, Lopez could be back in winning form on grass.
Predictions
Semis Federer d. Berdych
Dimitrov d. Johnson
Final Federer d. Dimitrov
Nothing suggests Federer will not win in Stuttgart, he should be fresh and focused, while Dimitrov looks to be solid enough to make the final with his all-court game.
ATP Rosmalen
Ricoh Open
ATP World Tour 250
S-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
June 12-18, 2017
Surface: Grass
Prize Money: €589,185
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes) (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Marin Cilic (7)
2: Alexander Zverev (10)
3: Ivo Karlovic (24)
4: Gilles Muller (28)
First round matchups to watch:
Yuichi Sugita vs. Janko Tipsarevic
Sugita has found form this year and just won a challenger on grass. Tipsarevic is a steady veteran who has a h2h win this matchup, but has yet to return to his tour level form. Fatigue may be an issue for Sugita, but it’s sensible that he’d be able to defeat Tipsarevic on grass.
(5)Steve Darcis vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov
Two shotmaking specialists, Dolgo has a only won one out of three meetings against the Belgian veteran, but he’s still the favorite in this match. The serve and volleyer Darcis is my pick though, he’s had a great season and that should continue on grass.
Dustin Brown vs. (WC)Stefan Kozlov
Brown is a dangerous serve and volleyer and should teach the young Kozlov a thing or two on grass. Kozlov has the game to compete on this surface but he still has plenty to learn, and Brown should have too crisp of a performance to suffer a defeat in this one.
Mikhail Youzhny vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
The veteran Youzhny has a great history on grass, but at 34 his game has declined from its peak by a large margin. Kokkinakis is just getting his feet wet on tour after injury, he’s immensely talented but Youzhny should find a way to scrape through for a much needed win to further enhance his grass court record.
Jordan Thompson vs. Adrian Mannarino
Another battle between players who enjoy grass court tennis, Thompson comes off of a challenger final on the surface, and although Mannarino should challenge him, look for Thompson’s fast developing game to show out and get the win.
Top Half:
Marin Cilic is in good form after reaching the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and should beat the Sugita/Tipsarevic winner, and then Darcis/Dolgopolov in the quarterfinals. Cilic didn’t drop a set in his Paris victories and looks setup to continue that trend on grass. The Darcis/Dolgopolov winner will face Vasek Pospisil or local wild card Tallon Griekspoor in round 2.
Ivo Karlovic‘s serve is a threat on grass, and he should defeat Brown/Kozlov, before facing Youzhny in the quarters. Youzhny faces Robin Haase or Daniil Medvedev in round 2 and has a winnable path to the quarters, although Haase is a competitive opponent. Karlovic should be solid enough to reach the semis on this surface.
Bottom Half:
11-6 in his career on grass, Alexander Zverev is a contender for this title, after breaking through on tour this season with a 27-10 record on the year. Zverev struggled at Roland Garros, but moving to grass may bring a refreshing change for him. Zverev should defeat Thompson/Mannarino to reach the quarters, Nicolas Mahut has won three Den Bosch titles and should defeat him there. Mahut opens with Dennis Novikov and then faces Rendy Lu/Evgeny Donskoy. Look for Mahut to show off his talents and reach at least the semifinals.
Gilles Muller also looks set for success, he’s had a great season and grass is perhaps his best surface. Muller should defeat Andreas Seppi/Tatsuma Ito, and then either Aljaz Bedene or Denis Istomin in the quarters. Rising young gun Hyeon Chung and improving American Ernesto Escobedo are also here in this section, and Chung could rise up and secure it. I have it Muller over Bedene, two players who have had good seasons, in the quarterfinals.
Dark Horse: Mikhail Youzhny
There are plenty of seeds with a shot at this title, but don’t count out Youzhny. The veteran still has enough game to find form for a week and take a title. In the very least, he should make the quarterfinals, with a good chance at beating Karlovic.
Predictions
Semis Cilic d. Karlovic
Muller d. Mahut
Final Cilic d. Muller
Cilic should be the clear favorite to take the title this week. I’ll back Muller’s form over all of his opponents to make the final, and he could take the title as well.
Tennis Atlantic 