Eastbourne and Antalya previews and predictions

Draws have not been kind to Andy Murray in the early stages of his return to tennis. At Queen’s Club, the former world No. 1 had go up against Nick Kyrgios in round one and he would have faced fellow Brit Kyle Edmund if he had defeated Kyrgios. Now this week in Eastbourne, Murray opens with fellow injury-plagued star Stan Wawrinka and the winner will run into none other than Edmund. They are joined in the field by Diego Schwartzman, Denis Shapovalov, and David Ferrer.

The second annual Antalya event is saddled with a less impressive list that includes Adrian Mannarino, Fernando Verdasco, Gael Monfils, and defending champion Yuichi Sugita.

Nature Valley International

Where: Eastbourne, Great Britain
Surface: Grass
Prize money: 661,085 Euros
Points: 250

Top seed: Diego Schwartzman
Defending champion: Denis Istomin

Draw analysis: Most of the top players in the world are obviously resting up for Wimbledon but thanks in part to the rust of Murray and Wawrinka—who need more matches before taking to the All-England Club—Eastbourne boasts an unusually strong field. With Murray, Wawrinka, and Edmund all in the same eighth of the bracket, however, at least two of the marquee attractions will be gone prior to the quarterfinals. A loaded bottom half also includes Shapovalov, Ferrer, Mischa Zverev, and Americans Steve Johnson, Jared Donaldson, and Taylor Fritz. Shapovalov awaits the Donaldson-Fritz winner and could meet either Zverev, Johnson, or Daniil Medvedev in the quarters.

The fact that Schwartzman and Marco Cecchinato are the two first-round bye recipients in the top half makes this look more like a clay-court tournament instead of something on grass. Schwartzman, though, is the midst of another stellar season that has him on the brink of the top 10 (currently 11^th); Cecchinato’s ranking was shot out of a cannon with an incredible run to the French Open semifinals. Marton Fucsovics, Ryan Harrison, Gilles Muller, and Andreas Seppi are among those who could take advantage of Schwartzman’s and Cecchinato’s vulnerability on the green stuff.

First-round upset alert: Daniil Medvedev over (7) Steve Johnson. There will be no love lost when Johnson and Medvedev meet for the fourth time in their careers and for the second straight year in Eastbourne. Medvedev is sweeping the head-to-head series 3-0, beginning with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 victory in the quarterfinals of this same tournament in 2017. They almost came to blows later that summer in Washington, D.C., where the Russian got the best of a contentious affair 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(1). Johnson again came up short in this matchup a few months ago in Indian Wells, losing 7-6(0), 6-4. Moreover, Medvedev advanced one round in both ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Queen’s Club while the American dropped his grass-court opener against Benoit Paire in Halle.

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Hot: Diego Schwartzman, Marco Cecchinato, Marton Fucsovics, Cameron Norrie

Cold: David Ferrer, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Gilles Muller

Semifinal picks: Gilles Muller over Ryan Harrison and Kyle Edmund over Mischa Zverev

Final: Edmund over Muller

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Turkish Airlines Open

Where: Antalya, Turkey
Surface: Grass
Prize money: 426,145 Euros
Points: 250

Top seed: Adrian Mannarino
Defending champion: Yuichi Sugita

Draw analysis: The inaugural Antalya event in 2017 resulted in a typical week-before-a-major kind of final—an all-unseeded affair between Mannarino and Sugita. A rematch is not out of the question, because Mannarino and Sugita find themselves on opposite sides of what is a wide-open draw. This time around they are both seeded; in fact, Mannarino headlines the bracket as the No. 1 seed. The Frenchman is a borderline grass-court specialist and he should be able to navigate his way through a friendly path, perhaps being tested only by fellow grass lover Florian Mayer in the quarterfinals. Monfils, the other first-round bye recipient in the top half, has been a disaster this season since beginning it with a title in Doha.

Verdasco, who lost to Mannarino in a three-setter during Antalya quarterfinal action last summer, is clear favorite in the bottom half of this draw. The Spaniard should not have to contend with anything more than Sugita, Damir Dzumhur, Dusan Lajovic, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and/or Marius Copil on his possible way to the title match. Sugita, Dzumhur, Herbert, and Copil are all in the bottom quarter away from Verdasco, so he  could only run into one of them in the semifinals.

First-round upset alert: Florian Mayer over (6) Joao Sousa. The head-to-head series stands at 1-1, with Mayer having picked up a hard-court win while Sousa predictably had the upper hand on clay. Grass should favor the German, who won the Halle title in 2016 and boasts a 16-11 lifetime record at Wimbledon with quarterfinal performances in 2004 and 2012. Sousa, on the other hand, has not defeated anyone in the top 100 on grass since 2015 in Nottingham.

Hot: Dusan Lajovic, Pierre-Hugues Herbert

Cold: Gael Monfils, Marcos Baghdatis, Ricardas Berankis, Jordan Thompson, Jiri Vesely

Semifinal picks: Adrian Mannarino over Robin Haase and Fernando Verdasco over Pierre-Hugues Herbert

Final: Mannarino over Verdasco

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