Montpellier, Pune, and Cordoba previews and predictions

The longest true “grind” of the tennis season is here. It’s February, and a grind is exactly what it is. Four weeks. Three tournaments each week. All 12 tournaments are of the 250-point variety. This month is all about quantity over quality, but that’s not to say these events aren’t worth watching. Take this week’s festivities in Montpellier, for example. The indoor hard-court event boasts an impressive field that includes Gael Monfils, David Goffin, Denis Shapovalov, Grigor Dimitrov, and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

As for Pune and Cordoba, well…those locations did not exactly attract the same kind of star power.

Open Sud de France

Where: Montpellier, France
Surface: Indoor hard
Prize money: 542,695 Euros
Points: 250

Top seed: Gael Monfils
2019 champion: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (not playing)

Draw analysis: This will be as good as it gets for a 250-point tournament in February. Auger-Aliassime does not even have a bye in Montpellier, whereas he would be the No. 2 seed in either Pune or Cordoba. A loaded bottom half of the draw features Auger-Aliassime, fellow Canadians Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil, Goffin, Ugo Humbert, Feliciano Lopez, Gilles Simon, Richard Gasquet, and Alexander Bublik. Intriguing first-round matchups pit Humbert against Lopez and Simon against Gasquet. The winners of those two showdowns will go head-to-head in round two. Goffin did not get much luck as the second seed, because he may have to beat Bublik, Auger-Aliassime, and Shapovalov just to reach the final.

Monfils’ road is also far from easy. He awaits either Alexei Popyrin or Adrian Mannarino in round two before possibly running into Pablo Carreno Busta and then Dimitrov. One of the most mouth-watering first-round matches will see Jannik Sinner go up against Mikael Ymer, with the winner potentially to meet Dimitrov in the quarters.

First-round upset alert: Feliciano Lopez over (8) Ugo Humbert. This will be a big-serving affair between fellow left-handers, which could go either way. Humbert captured his first career ATP title in Auckland but then flamed out right away in the Australian Open. Ranked 57^th in the world, Lopez is still going relatively strong at 38 years old. He can be dangerous on an indoor hard court by following his serve and slice approaches into net while minimizing rallies.

Hot: Ugo Humbert, Vasek Pospisil, Jannik Sinner

Cold: Felix Auger-Aliassime, Richard Gasquet, Joao Sousa

Semifinal predictions: Pablo Carreno Busta over Grigor Dimitrov and David Goffin over Gilles Simon

Final: Goffin over Carreno Busta

[crowdsignal poll=10499721]

Tata Open Maharashtra

Where: Pune, India
Surface: Hard
Prize money: $546,355
Points: 250

Top seed: Benoit Paire
2019 champion: Kevin Anderson (not playing)

Draw analysis: There’s Benoit Paire…and then there’s everyone else. Paire is a big favorite to take advantage of a weak field and lift the trophy on Sunday, and there are plenty of reasons to think he will take care of business. The Frenchman has reached nine finals in his career, with eight—including all three of his titles—coming at the 250-point level. He is also a solid 7-3 this season and has not lost in anything other than a final-set tiebreaker. Luks Rosol could be dangerous in round two after qualifying for the main draw, but Paire really should roll through this bracket.

The bottom half of the draw is wide open. Ricardas Berankis and Yuichi Sugita are both in decent form and make life tough on opponents with their speed and consistency. Jiri Vesely and Ilya Ivashka, on the other hand, are big hitters who can get hot at any point. Ramkumar Ramanathan is one local hope who has a chance of capitalizing on such a big opportunity in Pune.

First-round upset alert: Peter Gojowyczk over (6) James Duckworth. Yes, James Duckworth is actually seeded at an ATP-level tournament. Duckworth lost a tough five-setter to Aljaz Bedene in Melbourne and may still be reeling from that defeat on his home soil. Gojowyczk advanced one round before playing a decent match against Carreno Busta. The veteran German is a three-time finalist on the ATP Tour (one title) and all three finals have unsurprisingly come at 250s. He knows how to get the job done at smaller tournaments.

Hot: Ricardas Berankis, Soonwoo Kwon, Yuichi Sugita, Taro Daniel

Cold: Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, Thomas Fabbiano, Jiri Vesely, Lukas Rosol

Semifinal predictions: Benoit Paire over Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ricardas Berankis over Ramkumar Ramanathan

Final: Paire over Berankis

[crowdsignal poll=10499726]

Cordoba Open

Where: Cordoba, Argentina
Surface: Clay
Prize money: $546,355
Points: 250

Top seed: Diego Schwartzman
Defending champion: Juan Ignacio Londero

Draw analysis: The Golden Swing is here! You know, the golden age of every tennis season…. Or something like that. Four weeks; four clay-court tournaments in South America. The first two are in Argentina, where Juan Ignacio Londero treated the home crowd to a surprise title in 2019. Diego Schwartzman will be looking to do the same this time around, although that would not constitute any kind of surprise. The world No. 14 is seeded first and finds himself in a weaker top half of the draw. He is on a collision course for the semifinals with Londero, who faces a difficult opener against former French Open semifinalist Marco Cecchinato.

Second seed Guido Pella may have a tougher time at the bottom of the bracket, which is left-hander city. An all lefty matchup between Thiago Monteiro and Corentin Moutet will send the winner through to a lefty vs. lefty battle with Pella. Veteran southpaw Fernando Verdasco will likely be the quarterfinal opponent for either Pella, Monteiro, or Moutet. And in the semis, there could be…you guessed it…another left-hander. Federico Delbonis has a great early-round draw, although Christian Garin could be a tough test in the quarters.

First-round upset alert: Federico Delbonis over (6) Pablo Cuevas. Delbonis is not exactly in great form, but he is playing a whole lot better than Cuevas! The struggling Uruguayan is 1-5 this season and in many of his sets he has barely won any games. These two clay-courters most recently faced each other last year on the slow stuff in Bastad, where Delbonis cruised 6-4, 6-4.

Hot: Diego Schwartzman, Corentin Moutet

Cold: Laslo Djere, Pablo Cuevas

Semifinal predictions: Diego Schwartzman over Marco Cecchinato and Guido Pella over Federico Delbonis

Final: Schwartzman over Pella

[crowdsignal poll=10499727]