The European clay-court swing continues with a bit of a quiet week in between two furious stretches of tennis. We just saw Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, and Belgrade come and go with star-studded fields. Two more Masters 1000s are on the immediate horizon, as Madrid and Rome will be the fourth and fifth such tournaments of the spring (also hard-court events in Indian Wells and Miami). Before that, however, a couple of 250s take center stage this week in Estoril and Munich. Although the two fields are not exactly stacked relative to some of the other stops on this clay-court swing, there is still plenty on offer. Felix Auger-Aliassime and Diego Schwartzman headline the Estoril draw, while Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud are among those in action in Munich.
Estoril Open
Where: Estoril, Portugal
Surface: Clay
Prize money: 534,555 Euros
Points: 250
Top seed: Felix Auger-Aliassime
Defending champion: Albert Ramos-Vinolas
Draw analysis: Auger-Aliassime was red hot early in the season, but he has cooled off in a major way of late. Given the top seed’s struggles, the door could be wide open for everyone else in Estoril. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Frances Tiafoe, Sebastian Korda, and perhaps even a rusty Dominic Thiem will be among those looking to take advantage in the top half of the draw. Thiem, who is 0-2 so far in his comeback from a 10-month absence, could go head-to-head with Korda in the second round. They are potential quarterfinal opponents for Auger-Aliassime in an intriguing section of the bracket.
Cold: Felix Auger-Aliassime, Dominic Thiem, Benoit Paire, Dusan Lajovic
Quarterfinal predictions: Sebastian Korda over Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina over Frances Tiafoe, Sebastian Baez over Tommy Paul, and Diego Schwartzman over Albert Ramos-Vinolas
Semifinals: Davidovich Fokina over Korda and Schwartzman over Baez
Final: Schwartzman over Davidovich Fokina
BMW Open
Where: Munich, Germany
Surface: Clay
Prize money: 534,555 Euros
Points: 250
Top seed: Alexander Zverev
Defending champion: Nikoloz Basilashvili
Draw analysis: Zverev often dominates at home in Germany—especially at the 250 level—and he is already a two-time champion in Munich (2017, 2018). That being said, his draw this year is not a good one. An in-form Holger Rune could be up first and Emil Ruusuvuori (1-0 in the head-to-head series against Zverev) is a possible quarterfinal foe. Huge-serving Reilly Opelka and clay-court guru Cristian Garin also find themselves in the top half of the bracket.
The bottom half is not as deep, but it is top heavy. Ruud and Miomir Kecmanovic are on a collision course for the semifinals. The Norwegian has established himself as a top-10 player, while the Serb has been one of the best players on tour this season. That would be a showdown between two of the ATP’s brightest rising stars, and it’s hard to see anyone who will be able to stop it from happening.
Hot: Casper Ruud, Miomir Kecmanovic, Emil Ruusuvuori, Holger Rune
Cold: Cristian Garin, Ilya Ivashka, Maxime Cressy
Quarterfinal predictions: Alexander Zverev over Emil Ruusuvuori, Hugo Gaston over Oscar Otte, Miomir Kecmanovic over Mackenzie McDonald, and Casper Ruud over Botic Van de Zandschulp
Semifinals: Zverev over Gaston and Kecmanovic over Ruud
Final: Kecmanovic over Zverev
who ya got?
FAA is not cold anymore after a good event last week. Thiem still not cold yet, it’s a total joke to say he is, Bonzi’s not hot, he’s lost his last 2 matches.
Estoril:
QF: Korda over FAA, Davidovich over Tiafoe, Cilic over Paul, Schwartzman over Ramos
SF: Korda over Davidovich, Schwartzman over Cilic
F: Korda over Schwartzman
I too think Korda Schwartzman will make final but Schwartzman will win this at Estoril. The other tournament at Munich think Ruud and Zverev will make final but Ruud will win it.
Ruud is not hot after being upset in his last 2 events, not sure how you came up with Ruusuvuori being hot, cause he’s not really, Ivashka’s not really cold, he just beat Martinez then took a set from Tsitsipas, again, Garin is not cold anymore.
Munich
QF: Zverev over Nishioka, Opelka over Garin, Kecmanovic over Ivashka, Ruud over van de Zandschulp
SF: Zverev over Opelka, Ruud over Kecmanovic
F: Zverev over Ruud
Players lose matches. One loss doesn’t necessarily make a player cold.
Ruusuvuori should bounce back here.
Kecmanovic should be strong after underperforming at home against Djokovic.
Yeah I know one match doesn’t make a player cold, what are you reffering to exactly, if you are talking about Ruud I’m not saying he’s cold, I’m saying he’s not hot anymore like Ricky says, 2 upsets on clay for Ruud is not a good look, if he loses a 3rd he will be cold.
Ruusuvuori did have a good event last week winning 2 matches, but he’s generally not that good on clay, so don’t expect much from him on this surface, has a very tough opener vs. Nishioka who is playing well now and underrated on clay.
Kecmanovic will likely have to play Ruud and Zverev though, very tough matches for him on clay.
Who’s actually hot and cold in Munich and Estoril:
Hot: Zverev, Nishioka, Opelka, Otte, Kecmanovic, Gerasimov, Molcan
Cold: Cressy, Evans, Giron, Basilashvili
Estoril
Hot: Korda, Davidovich Fokina, Vesely, Schwartzman, Borges
Cold: Sousa, Baez, Thompson, Paire
I’m doubtful Zverev will win because he wasn’t competitive against Tsitsipas.
Rudd lost a match he should’ve won. He should bounce back as well.
Because Tsitsipas was playing great that day, it takes 2 players to make a match you know.
Ruud has now lost 2 matches in 2 weeks he should have one, he did not bounce back the past week, he’s clearly not at his best right now.
Jiri Lehecka had Rublev in all sorts of trouble and Rune may have reached the end of his performance streak.
Rune still is good, the loss to Daniel isn’t that bad since Daniel was playing well beating Lajovic.
I agree I do think Lehecka will beat Rune since Lehecka is playing well right now.
Garin will bounce back against Krajinovic. Krajinovic had a bad loss to Montiero after his opportunistic win against a weak Goffin. That will take time to recover from.
and Garin’s had time to reset. He will view this as an opportunity to start building momentum during his favorite time of the year.
Kraj played a great inspired match vs. Goffin, Monteiro was another story.
Dan Evans looks like he’s turned up for the clay season. He should beat Cressy.
What are you talking about, he’s 1-3 so far, anyone will beat Cressy right now, he’s terrible.
I sure like this ADF guy….and he’s playing great; same for Kec’vic.