The first Grand Slam of the 2025 tennis season is only a week away, but it’s not quite time to turn our full attention to the Australian Open. Before we can do that, there are two more ATP 250 tournaments on the schedule in Auckland and Adelaide. And even though a major is coming up, the player fields this week are impressive. Among those taking the court are Ben Shelton, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Gael Monfils, Tommy Paul, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Brisbane champion Jiri Lehecka.
Let’s break down the action in Auckland and Adelaide.
ASB Classic
Where: Auckland, New Zealand
Surface: Hard
Points: 250
Prize money: $766,290
Top seed: Ben Shelton
Defending champion: Alejandro Tabilo
Draw analysis: Shelton is the top seed in Auckland, but the draw did not do him any favors. The left-handed American could face Jakub Mensik in round two and Brisbane runner-up Reilly Opelka in the quarterfinals (Opelka, though, is likely to withdraw after retiring from the Brisbane final due to a wrist injury). Francisco Cerundolo and Flavio Cobolli also find themselves in the top half of the bracket.
On the other side, Mpetshi Perricard and Monfils are on a collision course for an all-French showdown in the second round. Mpetshi Perricard maintained his fine form with a semifinal showing in Brisbane, while Monfils fell to 0-20 lifetime against Novak Djokovic with a second-round loss. It’s a relatively wide open bottom half, as Alejandro Tabilo—even though he is the defending champion—and Sebastian Baez are not exactly dominant top-four seeds. The winner of an opening-round contest between Lorenzo Sonego and Gabriel Diallo could go a long way.
Quarterfinal predictions: Ben Shelton over Nuno Borges, Flavio Cobolli over Lucas Pouille, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard over Cameron Norrie, and Gabriel Diallo over Alejandro Tabilo
Semifinals: Cobolli over Shelton and Diallo over Mpetshi Perricard
Final: Cobolli over Diallo
Adelaide International
Where: Adelaide, Australia
Surface: Hard
Points: 250
Prize money: $766,290
Top seed: Tommy Paul
Defending champion: Jiri Lehecka
Draw analysis: Can anyone from the host nation make any noise in the penultimate event of the Australian summer. No Aussies are seeded in Adelaide, but there are a five in the field—including four in the bottom half. Thanasi Kokkinakis is the headliner; he is a former champion in Adelaide (2022) and also a two-time semifinalist. Kokkinakis opens against Yoshihito Nishioka before possibly facing Sebastian Korda in the quarterfinals and either Lehecka or Alexander Bublik in the semis.
Paul is the top seed in a more difficult top half, which is also home to Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Brandon Nakashima, and Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic. Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov had been scheduled to square off in round one before the bracket got rearranged when Tomas Machac withdrew—moving Auger-Aliassime to Machac’s spot and Zhizhen Zhang to Auger-Aliassime’s. It’s now Shapovalov vs. Zhang, with the winner potentially to meet Vukic in round two and Auger-Aliassime in the last eight.
Quarterfinal predictions: Tommy Paul over Brandon Nakashima, Felix Auger-Aliassime over Denis Shapovalov, Jiri Lehecka over Christopher O’Connell, and Roberto Bautist Agut over Thanasi Kokkinakis
Semifinals: Paul over Auger-Aliassime and Bautista Agut over Lehecka
Final: Paul over Bautista Agut
who ya got?
Cobolli over Norrie (will petchy perricard want to play much this week)
Paul over Kokinakis (2nd choice RBA)
( Lehecka also saving himself)
Hello Big Al!
I left a message for you and Mira on the WTA social page.
It’s about last week’s TDC results. 👍
I thought Struff had pulled out of Aukland, so I attempted to delete him from the Aukland Bracket yesterday. Oh, I get it. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard pulled out! Giovanni was my winner pick. Oh well, it happens.
Yesterday, I’m relatively sure I voted for Lehecka.
I did not think he would be overly tired because Jiri won Brisbane when Opelka retired from the match in the first set. Lehecka also went to the Final on a Dimitrov retirement.
How is Tommy Paul the overwhelming favorite? I’m guessing Paul will lose to Nakashima, as he usually does on indoor or outdoor HCs or Clay and Grass. Is Tommy Paul being buoyed by his new career-high ranking of #12? It could be.
But the other problem with that Adelaide bracket is when I picked it. FAA had withdrawn, so I thought I read. FAA was my winner pick for Adelaide, and I changed it after finding that Lehecka might not be so tired and Felix was out.
It’s a good thing I don’t bet on these tennis brackets!
Lehecka out