2014 U.S. Open qualifying picks

U.S. Open qualifying gets underway on Tuesday in New York. Ricky Dimon of The Grandstand and Steen Kirby of Tennis East Coast make their predictions for the 16 men who will play their way into the main draw.

Qualifying draw on the U.S. Open website

Ricky:

1) Malek Jaziri – Jaziri ‘s toughest test will likely come in the first round against Chase Buchanan. Jaziri should survive and then have no trouble thereafter.

2) Go Soeda – The King (Oscar Hernandez) is in this section and facing Soeda in round one. Other than those two, there is nothing else to speak of in this part of the bracket.

3) Ante Pavic – Is Ante Pavic the good one, or is that Mate Pavic? Either way, either one should be able to qualify with this draw. The other Pospisil (Jaroslav) may also have a chance.

4) James Duckworth – The two seeds in this group of eight are Facundo Bagnis and Somdev Devvarman. Duckworth is better than both of those guys at the moment, especially on hard courts.

5) Thanasi Kokkinakis – Alexander Zverev has cooled off and this is not the same Horacio Zeballos who beat Rafael Nadal last season. Kokkinakis can be expected to take advantage.

6) Illya Marchenko – Marchenko has resurfaced to at least some kind of relevance this summer. Even mediocre form may be enough to see him through arguably the second weakest section.

7) Rhyne Williams – A shadow of his 2013 self, Williams at least has something going for him: he is playing a Spaniard with three names on a hard court. Rajeev Ram is probably the favorite here, but Williams is the proverbial wild card.

8) Ricardas Berankis – Berankis has gone off the deep end. On the bright side for him though, Americans Mackenzie McDonald and Collin Altamirano are nowhere near ready yet and everyone else in this pod has gone off an even deeper end than Goffin has.

9) Marius Copil – Where has Aljaz Bedene been this season? The Copil vs. Peter Gojowczyk second-round winner should ultimately get the job done.

10) Peter Polansky – It is not the easiest of sections with Americans Tennys Sandgren and Alex Kuznetsov. But Sandgren, Polansky’s opening opponent, has been injured.

11) Michal Przysiezny – Alex Bogomolov appears to be over the hill and Francis Tiafoe has not yet arrived at the hill. Hence, the door is open for Przysiezny.

12) Tim Puetz – Puetz reached the second round of Wimbledon. The winner of his first-round match with Yuichi Sugita should qualify.

13) Mate Delic – There are a whole lot of youngsters in this section. For now, Delic is the best of them.

14) Michael Russell – We need Russell in the main draw just to dig up the annual story regarding his bid to finally win a match at the U.S. Open. The 36-year-old American is 0-9 lifetime.

15) James Ward – Ward, known for helping Great Britain past the United States in Davis Cup earlier this season, qualified in Cincinnati and made it to the second round.

16) Jimmy Wang – Fortunately for Wang, the 2013 version of Dan Evans ain’t walkin’ through that door. The other half of Wang’s section is intriguing, with Thiemo De Bakker, Borna Coric, and Stefan Kozlov. Wang will avoid those guys at least until the final round.

Steen:

1: Ruben Bemelmans – I have the Belgian making his U.S. Open main-draw debut. He has been inconsistent in putting all the pieces together, but he has talent. The Jaziri-Buchanan could conceivably be a roadblock.

2: Go Soeda – The in-form and consistent Japanese man is the only player with a hard-court skill-set in the second section. I find it highly unlikely he won’t qualify for the main draw.
3: Filip Krajinovic – The rising Serb, who has one previous Grand Slam main-draw showing, should qualify over either Pavic or Jesse Huta Galung even though he spends more of his time on clay than hard courts. Krajinovic is the most talented and in-form player in this section; he seems poised to break through.
4: James Duckworth – The second-tier Aussie is the most accomplished hard-court player in his section and has an edge over Devvarman and his lower-ranked countryman Alex Bolt.
5: Thanasi Kokkinakis – Look for the young gun to star in yet another Grand Slam main draw this season, as he is the strongest hard-court player in his section. A potential dark horse is the clean-hitting young Japanese player Yoshihito Nishioka, who could trip up Kokkinakis in round two.
6: Di Wu – Wu would be playing his third Grand Slam main draw if he qualifies. In this very weak section, given his preference for hard courts, he is the player most likely to do so.
7: Rajeev Ram – We could see a final round qualies match between two players of Indian descent: Ram and Sanam Singh. Assuming Ram can defeat the volatile Williams in round two, if his serve-and-volley game clicks he should qualify here.
8: Ricardas Berankis – Berankis is an underachiever but far and above the most talented player in this weak section. Altamirano, who made his slam debut last year at the U.S. Open and lost in the Kalamazoo 18s final this summer, has an outside shot.

9: Marius Copil – Copil is a big hitter with some talent. He’s in a weak section that features the nation-switcher Aljaz Bedene, who has been very quiet since switching to UK nationality, and potential dark horse Egor Gerasimov.

10: Peter Polansky – This is a hard section to pick, as journeyman American Alex Kuznetsov and Uzbek No. 2 Farrukh Dustov could both qualify. But I’m going with the Canadian journeyman by a hair in this competitive group.
11: Michal Przysiezny – After posting some of the best results of his career last season, Przysiezny has had a miserable 2014 and his top 100 ranking has all but disappeared. That said, he clearly has the ability to get back up to the ATP level and I think he’s better than the likes of Bogomolov and Tatsuma Ito.
12: Pierre-Hugues Herbert – This is a somewhat risky pick given the lanky, big-serving Frenchman has been off the tour for a few weeks. When playing well, though, he is by far the best hard-court player in this section.

13: James McGee – Irish eyes may finally smile on nice-guy McGee, who has been gifted a great chance to make his main-draw debut in New York with its sizable Irish population. Potential threat Yuki Bhambri appears to be injured and both Ze Zhang and Austin Krajicek aren’t world-beaters.
14: Michael Russell – Iron Mike has much more experience at the U.S. Open and he should grind his way to the main draw over Andrej Martin, who is a decent player but not in good enough form to defeat the old man.
15: James Ward – The Brit journeyman had a good run in Cincinnati as a qualifier and has had a productive summer. Look for him to qualify over Ilija Bozoljac or Marton Fucsovics in the final round.

16: Borna Coric – I’m going out on a limb and picking the teenager to make his Grand Slam main-draw debut. His form hasn’t been great and the section is loaded, but a round-one test with De Bakker could make Coric battle-hardened.

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