Approach Shots: Grass culminates in Newport, clay resumes

“Approach Shots” is Ricky’s weekly look at what’s ahead on the ATP Tour.

The era of four tournaments during this week on the calendar lasted all of one year. Umag has moved to a later date in July, but there are still three events on the schedule. While clay-court action resumes in Bastad and Stuttgart, the grass-court “season” continues—and ends—in Newport. Tomas Berdych is the highest-ranked player in action at the top of the Bastad draw, Tommy Haas leads the way in Stuttgart, and the American duo of Sam Querrey and John Isner are seeded first and second in Newport. As post-slam weeks go, this is certainly better than average.

Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships

Where: Newport, Rhode Island
Surface: Grass
Prize money: $455,775
Points: 250

Top seed: Sam Querrey
Defending champion: John Isner

Draw analysis: With a weak crop of seeded players and a deep contingent of unseeded floaters, just about everyone has a chance at the season’s final grass-court event. That includes Nicolas Mahut, who just captured his first career ATP title last month on the grass courts of ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Mahut, who opens with Rhyne Williams in a rematch of a recent Queen’s Club first-rounder, could face Querrey in round two. Potential semifinal opponents for either Querrey or Mahut include Kenny De Schepper and Igor Sijsling. De Schepper is coming off a surprise run to the last 16 at Wimbledon.

At the bottom of the bracket, Isner and countryman Ryan Harrison are set for their sixth meeting—fourth in 2013. They faced each other in the Sydney second round (Isner’s opening match after a bye), the Houston first round, and the French Open second round. It may not get any easier for the winner with either James Blake or Adrian Mannarino (a fourth-round finisher at the All-England Club) in the second round and possibly Lleyton Hewitt in the semis. Hewitt begins against fellow Aussie Matthew Ebden before a potential all-Australian quarterfinal with Marinko Matosevic.

First-round upset alert: Jack Sock over (6) Marinko Matosevic. Matosevic is just 10-18 at the ATP level this season and he is coming off first-round losses in Eastbourne and at Wimbledon. Sock got blown out in his first qualifying match at the All-England Club, but he rebounded to win the Winnetka Challenger on Saturday (he also finished runner-up in doubles). The American is inexperienced on grass, but his power game can work well on it. He should be confident in the wake of his recent Winnetka result and he almost always plays his best tennis at home in the United States.

Hot: Igor Sijsling, Kenny De Schepper, Jack Sock, Adrian Mannarino

Cold: Marinko Matosevic, Yuichi Sugita, Illya Marchenko, Ivo Karlovic, Matthew Ebden

Semifinal predictions: Sam Querrey over Igor Sijsling and Lleyton Hewitt over Denis Kudla

Final: Hewitt over Querrey

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Mercedes Cup

Where: Stuttgart, Germany
Surface: Clay
Prize money: 410,200 Euros
Points: 250

Top seed: Tommy Haas
2011 champion: Janko Tipsarevic (not playing)

Draw analysis: Another week, another terrible draw for Haas and Ernests Gulbis. They just squared off in the second rounds of both Munich and Halle—matchups that would have been worthy of the semis and possibly even the final at each event. The story is the same in Stuttgart, where Haas will have to open against the most dangerous unseeded player in the field if Gulbis gets past Marcel Granollers in the first round. A relatively difficult section also features Fabio Fognini in the same quarter and Jeremy Chardy in the same half.

Except for Gael Monfils lurking nearby, second-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber has a much more favorable path at the other end of the bracket. Kohlschreiber failed to capitalize on an opportunistic Wimbledon draw when he retired in the first round. If he is 100 percent, the German should storm through his opener before likely running into Monfils in the quarters. Meanwhile, Benoit Paire’s road to the semifinals could include Nikolay Davydenko and either Lukas Rosol or Thomaz Bellucci.

First-round upset alert: Albert Montanes over (8) Martin Klizan. Klizan still registers at 36^th in the world (as of Sunday), but he is on the way down after peaking at No. 26. Many of points are coming from last year (U.S. Open fourth round, St. Petersburg title) and he is horrendous 8-16 for his 2013 campaign. The Slovak’s game is best-suited for clay, but so is that of his opponent. Montanes triumphed on the slow stuff in Nice two months ago and he also played relatively well in Monte-Carlo, Rome, and at the French Open. Klizan and Montanes are 1-1 against each other on clay already this season, so something has to give.

Hot: Tommy Haas, Jeremy Chardy

Cold: Florian Mayer, Martin Klizan, Marcel Granollers, Nikolay Davydenko

Semifinal predictions: Tommy Haas over Daniel Gimeno-Traver and Gael Monfils over Thomaz Bellucci

Final: Haas over Monfils

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SkiStar Swedish Open

Where: Bastad, Sweden
Surface: Clay
Prize money: 433,770 Euros
Points: 250

Top seed: Tomas Berdych
2012 champion: David Ferrer (not playing)

Draw analysis: With David Ferrer absent, Bastad may be wide open (Ferrer’s last five appearances read title, semifinal, semifinal, final, title). This is the event at which we last saw Robin Soderling two years ago, and now a different big hitter—Berdych—stands tall at the top of the bracket. The unseeded crop at this tournament is incredibly soft, especially in Berdych’s quarter of the draw. As such, he should have no trouble reaching the semis before a possible showdown against a resurgent Tommy Robredo.

No. 2 seed Nicolas Almagro did well to avoid Robredo and would instead face a relatively out-of-form Juan Monaco in the last four if both clay-lovers advance that far. Almagro, however, may have to go up against Wimbledon quarterfinalist Fernando Verdasco in the last eight. Monaco awaits a likely opener against Paolo Lorenzi and he is on course for a quarterfinal collision with Grigor Dimitrov. Meanwhile, Verdasco’s second match in Bastad could come against Sergiy Stakhovsky…yes, the same Stakhovsky who toppled Roger Federer at Wimbledon and ended the Swiss’ Grand Slam quarterfinal streak. Of course, the Ukrainian is far less formidable on clay than he is on grass.

First-round upset alert: Carlos Berlocq over (7) Horacio Zeballos. This would be an upset only according to ranking and seed. In fact, Zeballos would have done well to ride off into the sunset after upsetting Rafael Nadal to win the Vina del Mar title back in February. Since the end of the Golden Swing, the Argentine is a shocking 4-12. Berlocq has also been incredibly disappointing (even on his preferred surface of clay), but his confidence level may not be sinking quite as low as that of Zeballos.

Hot: Tommy Robredo, Fernando Verdasco, Sergiy Stakhovksy

Cold: Horacio Zeballos, Filippo Volandri, Andreas Vinciguerra

Semifinal predictions: Nicolas Almagro over Grigor Dimitrov and Tommy Robredo over Tomas Berdych

Final: Almagro over Robredo

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Comments and your own predictions are appreciated!