French Open qualifying picks

French Open qualifying gets underway on Tuesday in Paris. 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 Roland Garros website

Ricky:

1) Paolo Lorenzi – The top seed should be able to get it done on clay.
2) Maxime Teixeira – He’s playing at home in France with no real clay-courters in his section.
3) Evgeny Donskoy – By far the most talented player in his part of the bracket.
4) Blaz Rola – He’s so match tough, but will Challenger dominance translate to slam qualifying?
5) Marius Copil – The big-hitting Romanian has been playing some decent ball at the ATP level.
6) Andreas Haider-Maurer – A weak section may see AHM into another slam main draw.
7) Marsel Ilhan – A slumping Tim Smyczek is his nearest seed and there is not much else.
8) Diego Sebastian Schwartzman – With that name and “(ARG)” by it, he must be good on clay.
9) Peter Gojowczyk – Should be confident after some strong performances this spring.
10) Andre Ghem – Because why not? Seeds Michael Berrer and Damir Dzumhur are unimposing.
11) Roberto Carballes Baena – The Spaniard has been playing well of late (I think?).
12) Andrey Kuznetsov – This is guy who feasts on lower competition but does nothing else.
13) Henri Laaksonen – An American (Denis Kudla) as the high seed is good news for everyone else.
14) Horacio Zeballos – Norbert Gombos is the tempting pick, but Zeballos has the experience.
15) Blaz Kavcic – He should have an edge over Ricardas Berankis on the slow stuff.
16) Rui Machado – The surface is likely to help him get past a bunch of nearby hard-courters.

Steen:

1) Taro Daniel – The rising Japanese player has qualified for two ATP tournaments this year and plays his best on clay. With the most accomplished clay-courter in this section, Lorenzi, having lost three straight matches, I think Daniel will sneak through to his first slam main draw.
2) Julian Reister – The veteran German is in great form having won the Rome Challenger on clay and made the final in Tunis, also on clay.
3) Filip Krajinovic – The young Serbian is solid on clay and an in open section I feel it’s his time to break through.
4) Blaz Rola – The former NCAA standout is excellent on clay and rapidly rising up the rankings. Look for him to make his slam debut at RG, as I don’t trust anyone in the section more than him.
5) Thiemo De Bakker – The underachieving Dutchman has good history at RG and won a clay-court Challenger title this year. On this surface I don’t trust Copil, De Bakker’s main rival in this section.
6) Gerald Melzer – This section will come down to an Austrian most likely, and Melzer has had a great rising season. He deserves a slam debut, as he has been a consistent winner on clay. The other Austrian, Haider-Maurer, has not been as strong this season though he is more accomplished.
7) Marsel Ilhan – Dreadful section and Ilhan is the only player with any sort of form going in. Whoever qualifies here should be an easy round-one matchup.
8) Diego Sebastian Schwartzman – Interesting section with some accomplished veteran clay-courters like Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo and Adrian Ungur. Schwartzman mostly makes a living on the South American clay Challengers and he does well. He should get through a section that also includes fellow Argentine Martin Alund and the young Belgian Kimmer Coppejans.
9) Simone Bolelli – The former ATP regular has had a great comeback season and he won two straight Challengers on clay recently. His biggest threat in this section is the out-of-form Gojowczyk, so Bolelli should get through and perhaps make some noise in the main draw.
10) Damir Dzumhur – We got introduced to him in Australia and I think we will see him again on a big stage in Paris. A pair of aged veterans in Oscar Hernandez and Michael Berrer stand in Dzumhur’s way.
11) Roberto Carballes Baena – Going out on a limb with this one,. Hhas lost two straight on clay but the Casablanca semifinalist an interesting player with some talent. Facundo Bagnis of Argentina will be a big opening-round test.
12) Andrey Kuznetsov – The talented Russian flattened out some in the rankings but he’s good on clay and he’s done well at mostly the Challenger level recently. Look for him to get past his main section rival Gastao Elias.
13) Andreas Beck – Hard to pick this section. Beck has had the best recent results among mostly unaccomplished options, so I’ll go with him.
14) Guido Pella – His countryman Zeballos, who was also formerly higher in the rankings, is in poor form and that is his main rival in this section. Even in the midst of a slide, I think Pella will qualify.
15) Ricardas Berankis – Berankis is the most talented player in this section but he’s underachieved. I just don’t see anyone else up to his level here.
16) Rui Machado – Another toss-up, hard to pick section. Machado used to be a good player; I’ll go with him over veterans like Potito Starace.