Roger Federer is still out with a knee injury, Andy Murray is on self-imposed paternity leave until Indian Wells, and Rafael Nadal’s stay on the Golden Swing has come to an unsuccessful end. That means the focus this week will be on Novak Djokovic’s bid to maintain an unblemished record in 2016. The Doha and Australian Open champion headlines a Dubai field that also features Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych, and Marseille winner Nick Kyrgios.
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
Where: Dubai, UAE
Surface: Hard
Points: 500
Prize money: $2,249,215
Top seed: Novak Djokovic
2015 champion: Roger Federer (not playing)
Draw analysis: Djokovic has not failed to win a tournament since last August (Cincinnati). His only loss since then came against Federer at the World Tour Finals, but that was during round-robin action and the world No. 1 avenged it convincingly in the title match. Only Djokovic has come close to stopping Djokovic in 2016 (he sprayed 100 unforced errors in a five-set Aussie Open defeat of Gilles Simon). Robredo won a mere three games against the Serb on Monday in Dubai and the top seed’s favorable draw will continue in the form of Malek Jaziri on Wednesday. Djokovic is on course for a potential semifinal meeting with an in-form Roberto Bautista Agut.
Two of tennis’ most recent title winners will be going head-to-head on Tuesday, when Kyrgios goes up against Martin Klizan. The 20-year-old’s Marseille triumph was preceded by a borderline miracle run to the Rotterdam trophy by Klizan. Berdych potentially awaits the winner of that showdown in the quarterfinals. Wawrinka’s week will begin with a rematch against Sergiy Stakhovsky, whom the Swiss beat 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(8) in Marseille after saving two match points.
First-round upset alert: Nick Kyrgios over (7) Martin Klizan. This, of course, would not really be an upset. In fact, Kyrgios is officially favored to win the match. The Aussie is making a quick turnaround after Marseille but did not have to expend too much energy given that no opponent managed force a third set of even break his serve.
Hot: Novak Djokovic, Roberto Bautista Agut, Martin Klizan, Nick Kyrgios, Teymuraz Gabashvili
Cold: Malek Jaziri, Vasek Pospisil, Yuki Bhambri, Borna Coric, Joao Sousa, Mikhail Kukushkin
Quarterfinal predictions: Novak Djokovic over Lukas Rosol, Roberto Bautista Agut over Viktor Troicki, Nick Kyrgios over Tomas Berdych, and Stan Wawrinka over Philipp Kohlschreiber
Semifinals: Novak Djokovic over Roberto Bautista Agut and Nick Kyrgios over Stan Wawrinka
Final: Djokovic over Kyrgios
[polldaddy poll=9318625]
Abierto Mexicano Telcel
Where: Acapulco, Mexico
Surface: Hard
Prize money: $1,413,600
Points: 500
Top seed: David Ferrer
Defending champion: David Ferrer
Draw analysis: At least on paper, David Ferrer and Kei Nishikori are the class of this field. There are plenty of contenders such as Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem, Bernard Tomic, Ivo Karlovic, and Grigor Dimitrov, but all come with question marks. Tomic, Karlovic, and Dimitrov are out of sorts at the moment. Thiem’s hot streak finally came to an end when he ran out of gas against Guido Pella in the Rio de Janeiro semifinals. Cilic will be making a quick turnaround after finishing runner-up to Kyrgios in Marseille.
Nishikori should have no trouble whatsoever prior to a possible date with Thiem in the semis. The second seed will open with Thiemo De Bakker before likely facing Sam Querrey. Nishikori has won four in a row at Querrey’s expense, including two weeks ago en route to the Memphis title. Thiem is likely to coast through two rounds before potentially running into either Dimitrov or Gilles Muller. Ferrer could meet either Steve Johnson or Alexandr Dolgopolov in the last 16. Cilic’s path to the semis may feature a trio of Americans in Ryan Harrison, Tommy Paul, and Rajeev Ram.
First-round upset alert: (Q) Taylor Fritz vs. (8) Jeremy Chardy. Fritz is up to No. 102 in the world and will be inside the top 100 next week regardless of his main-draw result. The 18-year-old’s incredibly fast rise includes a recent runner-up showing in Memphis. Chardy played dismal tennis in his Delray Beach quarterfinal loss to Juan Martin Del Potro.
Hot: Kei Nishikori, Sam Querrey, Rajeev Ram, John Millman, Tommy Paul, Taylor Fritz, Victor Estrella Burgos
Cold: Bernard Tomic, Grigor Dimitrov, Ivo Karlovic, Dmitry Tursunov, Sam Groth, Ryan Harrison
Quarterfinal predictions: David Ferrer over Robin Haase, Bernard Tomic over Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem over Gilles Muller, and Kei Nishikori over Jeremy Chardy
Semifinals: Ferrer over Tomic and Nishikori over Thiem
Final: Nishikori over Ferrer
[polldaddy poll=9318615]
Brasil Open
Where: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Surface: Clay
Prize money: $436,220
Points: 250
Top seed: Benoit Paire
Defending champion: Pablo Cuevas
Draw analysis: Any tournament in which Benoit Paire and Thomaz Bellucci are the top two seeds is going to be wide open. That is especially the case in Sao Paulo. Paire is making quick transition from a different continent (Europe to South America) and different surface (indoor hard courts to clay). Additionally, the Frenchman is not as skilled on clay as he is on hards—even though he is better on clay than grass. Bellucci generally underwhelms amidst the pressure of playing at home in Brazil.
This could be a big opportunity for Nicolas Almagro, who is rounding into form after slowly making his way back from injury in 2015. Almagro has a great draw through two rounds and his nearest seed is Pablo Cuevas, who has to be running on fumes following an arduous run to the Rio de Janeiro title. Belucci could face the winner of an all-Spanish first-rounder between Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Pablo Carreno Busta in the quarterfinals.
First-round upset alert: (Q) Gastao Elias over (8) Pablo Andujar. Andujar is a horrendous 1-5 this season, including 0-2 on the Golden Swing. He has lost five matches in a row dating back to Doha second round in the first week of the year. Elias, meanwhile, should be confident with a pair of qualifying wins already under his belt in Sao Paulo.
Hot: Pablo Cuevas, Paolo Lorenzi, Thiago Monteiro, Nicolas Almagro
Cold: Pablo Andujar, Blaz Rola, Marcel Granollers, Horacio Zeballos, Pablo Carreno Busta, Santiago Giraldo
Semifinals: Nicolas Almagro over Santiago Giraldo and Federico Delbonis over Albert Ramos-Vinolas
Final: Almagro over Delbonis
[polldaddy poll=9318621]
Comments and your own predictions are appreciated!
who ya got?
Dubai:
QF-
Djokovic over Rosol
Bautista Agut over Troicki
Kyrgios over Berdych
Wawrinka over Kohlschreiber
SF-
Djokovic over Bautista Agut
Kyrgios over Wawrinka
Final-
Djokovic over Kyrgios
Whoa same picks lol. Made these last night too. Great minds think alike. Except we were already wrong about Troicki.
Acapulco:
QF-
Ferrer over Haase
Cilic over Ram
Dimitrov over Thiem
Nishikori over Fritz
SF-
Cilic over Ferrer
Nishikori over Dimitrov
Final-
Nishikori over Cilic
São Paulo:
QF-
Giraldo over Vanni
Almagro over Mathieu
Delbonis over Lorenzi
Bellucci over Gimeno-Traver
SF-
Almagro over Giraldo
Bellucci over Delbonis
Final-
Almagro over Bellucci
Most excited for Dubai of these three events. Also most sure of my picks there. Not very sure about São Paulo. I think that tournament could many different ways. Also in Acapulco I went a bit risky. I’m probably least sure about São Paulo and most sure about Dubai. Acapulco is in the middle for me. That’s also the order of excitement have for these tournaments as well lol. Can’t wait for all of them still but Dubai is the one I’m really interested to see. I really want to see a Kyrgios VS Wawrinka semifinal. I also want to see someone other than Novak win the event. I don’t see that happening though. I do think Kyrgios and Stanimal stand the best chance of beating Nole though. I’ve always thought Kyrgios was the guy who actually may cause Nole a lot of problems just because he is so confident and Nole has never faced him. I’m not betting against Novak here though. Obviously Stan is also a threat to Stan with what he’s done in the past but this surface would favor Nole by a lot if they played imo. I think Kyrgios actually stands the best chance at beating Novak on this surface of anyone at the tournament. If fed was here and not injured he would have a great chance on this surface as well.
Most excited for Dubai of these three events. Also most sure of my picks there. Not very sure about São Paulo. I think that tournament could many different ways. Also in Acapulco I went a bit risky. I’m probably least sure about São Paulo and most sure about Dubai. Acapulco is in the middle for me. That’s also the order of excitement have for these tournaments as well lol. Can’t wait for all of them still but Dubai is the one I’m really interested to see. I really want to see a Kyrgios VS Wawrinka semifinal. I also want to see someone other than Novak win the event. I don’t see that happening though. I do think Kyrgios and Stanimal stand the best chance of beating Nole though. I’ve always thought Kyrgios was the guy who actually may cause Nole a lot of problems just because he is so confident and Nole has never faced him. I’m not betting against Novak here though. Obviously Stan is also a threat to Stan with what he’s done in the past but this surface would favor Nole by a lot if they played imo. I think Kyrgios actually stands the best chance at beating Novak on this surface of anyone at the tournament. If fed was here and not injured he would have a great chance on this surface as well. Greater than anyone here or anywhere for that matter. Sad he’s out with that stupid knee injury. Hopefully he’ll be better in time for IW. I think if anyone can recover from an injury quickly it’s Roger considering his incredible health throughout his career. It just sucks that he’s not here because he’s basically the king of Dubai lol. Anyways this should be an exciting week of tennis. Can’t wait. I’m particularly interested to see how Kyrgios and Stan bode and if they play in the semis and how vanni fares as the defending finalist in São Paulo. Also I’m interested to see how Fritz and Paul do in Acapulco. Hoping they do well.
I meant to say that Stan is a threat to Novak not Stan is a threat to Stan. Well funnily enough he’s also a bit of a threat to himself.
Oh sorry I double posted. My second comment had a bit more in it. That was the one I meant to post.
Oh goody – another week and opportunity to make a fool out of myself 😀 Can’t resist.
Dubai
QF
Nole over F-Lo (I can’t pick Rosol, I just can’t, even though Rosol does feel like the one likely to be there)
RBA over Troicki (Troicki already lost but I had Troicki last night)
Kyrgios over Berdych!
Stan the Man over Coric
SF
Nole over RBA
Stan the Man over Kyrgios
F
Nole ole ole over Stan the Man
Acapulco
Ferrer over Haase
Cilic over Ram
Thiem over Dimitrov!
Nishikori over Chardy
SF
Ferrer over Cilic
Nishikori over Thiem
F
Nishikori over Ferrer
Sao Paulo
QF
Paire over Elias
Almagro over PHM
Delbonis over Lorenzi
Bellucci over AVR
SF
Paire over Almagro
Bellucci over Delbonis
F
Paire over Bellucci
I don’t think Rosol will make it anymore now that Lopez beat Garcia Lopez. I think feli has a slight edge now. I originally thought Garcia Lopez would win in round one and lose to Rosol afterwards. I’m hoping Rosol loses that’s for sure lol.
Actually I was having trouble keeping it straight that Acapulco isn’t still clay and Sao Paulo is clay. But Paire’s one title is on clay. It’s all good 🙂
rc,
I also keep forgetting that Acapulco is no longer clay.
I think that Almagro has a good shot at winning the title in São Paulo. He just isn’t that consistent at times, but in this field I like his chances.
Quite likely right about Nico, Nny. I’m a Benoit Paire fan. Not a fan of his personality – he’s a bit unstable or moody – but his tennis has so much potential. On the right day at the right time…
Very excited about WTA matches coming up in both Doha and Acapulco. Vika Azarenka is top seed in Acapulco and Sloane Stephens in 2nd seed. Lots going on in that draw.
rc,
I know that you like Paire! But he’s another guy who can be brilliant or mediocre. But I love your appreciation for him.
Okay, now you have me excited for the women’s tournaments. I can’t wait to see Vika again!