This is one of the busiest and best times on the tennis calendar, with the clay-court swing in full flight, the French Open on the immediate horizon, and Wimbledon and the U.S. Open not too far away. Even 250-point tournaments are stacked with notable players, as we see this week in Estoril and Munich. Among those in action are Stefanos Tsitsipas, Fabio Fognini, Gael Monfils, David Goffin, Alexander Zverev, and Karen Khachanov.
Estoril Open
Where: Estoril, Portugal
Surface: Clay
Prize money: 524,340 Euros
Points: 250
Top seed: Stefanos Tsitsipas
Defending champion: Joao Sousa
Draw analysis: Most of the top players in Estoril are racing to find their form in time for the French Open, which is four weeks away. Tstisipas has cooled off of late, Goffin has not been at his best since injuries plagued his 2018 campaign, the same goes for Pablo Carreno Busta, and Monfils is once again dealing with physical issues. Carreno Busta and Monfils are in the same quarter of this draw, which could open the door for either Jeremy Chardy or Taylor Fritz.
Two seeded players are, however, playing stellar tennis. Fognini and Dusan Lajovic recently faced each other in the Monte-Carlo final and they will try to maintain their momentum in Estoril. Fognini, whose Monte-Carlo title marked the first Masters 1000 triumph of his career, likely awaits Pablo Cuevas in the second round. Lajovic may have a tough opener on his hands against Leonardo Mayer before possibly running into Nicolas Jarry and then either Goffin or defending champion Joao Sousa.
First-round upset alert: Leonardo Mayer over (5) Dusan Lajovic. Due to his recent runner-up performance in Monte-Carlo, Lajovic is now playing with the greatest expectations of his career. How will he handle that pressure? Well, it won’t be easy in his first match since Monte-Carlo. Mayer leads this head-to-head series 2-0 at the ATP level, including a clay-court win earlier this year in Buenos Aires via a 6-3, 7-6(3) decision.
Hot: Fabio Fognini, Dusan Lajovic, Nicolas Jarry, Mackenzie McDonald
Cold: David Goffin, Alex de Minaur, Pablo Carreno Busta, Bernard Tomic
Semifinal predictions: Stefanos Tsitsipas over Joao Sousa and Fabio Fognini over Jeremy Chardy
Final: Tsitsipas over Fognini
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BMW Open
Where: Munich, Germany
Surface: Clay
Prize money: 524,340 Euros
Points: 250
Top seed: Alexander Zverev
Defending champion: Alexander Zverev
Draw analysis: Munich has been a haven for German players in recent years. Zverev is the two-time defending champion, making it three straight winners from the host nation (also Philipp Kohlschreiber in 2016) and five in the past seven seasons (also Kohlschreiber in 2012 and Tommy Haas in 2013). More of the same could be in the cards this time around, as Zverev and Kohlschreiber are once again in the field along with an in-form Jan-Lennard Struff.
Zverev, who could kick off his campaign against countryman Maximilian Marterer, is just 3-6 in his last nine matches. The winner of a first-round showdown between Diego Schwartzman and Benoit Paire may be able to take advantage of Zverev in the quarterfinals. Kohlschreiber could be tested by Andreas Seppi in the opening round, but his path through the bracket looks manageable. The veteran’s two nearest seeds—Khachanov and Kyle Edmund—are not playing well at the moment. Also watch out for a red-hot Guido Pella in the bottom half of the draw.
First-round upset alert: Denis Kudla over (5) Kyle Edmund. Should this upset happen? No. Is there a chance? Sure. Kudla is not playing well this season, but Edmund—aside from an Indian Wells win over Milos Raonic—has been a disaster at the ATP level. Clay is not a favorable surface for either man, which will create a somewhat level playing field.
Hot: Guido Pella, Matteo Berrettini, Jan-Lennard Struff, Christian Garin
Cold: Alexander Zverev, Karen Khachanov, Kyle Edmund, Denis Istomin, Mischa Zverev
Semifinal predictions: Diego Schwartzman over Marco Cecchinato and Philipp Kohlschreiber over Guido Pella
Final: Schwartzman over Kohlschreiber
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who ya got?
Bold prediction for the Estoril final, I certainly hope Tsitsipas to win the whole thing. When is Tsitispas playing?
Maybe Monfils could do so damage in the Foggy half of the draw? I think Foggy has some injury issues, don’t know whether he’s ok now.
Monfils injured again? 😗
Very few players fully fit these days,it seems!
Picked Struff to go deep – to even make the stupid final in Munich. I thought he played very well in Barca. But he looked like he forgot what he was doing out there in front of the home crowd.
Seriously, Struff couldn’t even serve and he only got 2 points off of Montiero. Pitiful effort.
I nearly picked Struff,but ended up having Zverev in the final.
Struff was playing much better so Zverev better pull his socks up this week,or he’ll not get my vote again!
I honestly thought Edmund was decent on clay
hahha I thought Edmund was decent on clay too. Bad day at the bracket office of me this week 😀
games.
but yeah that’s bad.
thank you, Ricky.
Great call on Kudla
I nearly picked Struff,but ended up having Zverev in the final.
Struff was playing much better so Zverev better pull his socks up this week,or he’ll not get my vote again!
I honestly thought Edmund was decent on clay
Monfils and Tsitsipas are through to the next round. It’s rather windy out there, I’m surprised that Tsitsipas could win in straight sets despite the wind.
Don’t know how Foggy will play, but it may be a Tsitsipas-Monfils final instead of what Ricky has predicted.
Complete change in conditions for Paire this week , from his big win. Low bouncing ball might help the Shortman a lot more , but happy to see Garin has continued his run of form .
Pity Fog has pulled out , was looking forward to a possible matches with Monfils /Tsitsi.
Zverev looks to be back on track, pity about Struff, was looking forward to his match with Cecchinato
Tsitsipas struggling against his Portuguese opponent. His opponent was serving and hitting so hard that Tsitispas was made to defend most of the time!
He managed to break back after being broken; perhaps finally found his game and shown he’s the top ten player? Tsitsipas seems to be playing every week non stop, don’t know what he and his team are thinking! Won’t he get tired playing week in week out, like what Thiem was doing a few years back? Why is he going that way?
He’s on his sophomore year.Maybe trying too hard.
he’s still not playing as much as Thiem
also let’s keep in mind that Tsitsipas had one great, out of nowhere run in Barcelona last year but in general clay should NOT be his best surface
I agree, I think Tsitsipas is an excellent lay this clay court season.
?Just this clay season? Hilarious , in another context
He played too many smaller events and then bombed out early in the big ones – Rome and RG. Looks like he’s doing the same this year!
Grass should be his best surface – so I hope he doesn’t bomb out there
No, I wouldn’t say Sascha is back on track – he just got beat at home by a better clay court player: Christian Garin.
Sascha seemed to be good on any surface but not anymore.
And Goffin is having a hard time with Jaziri. Dear me his black outfit is covered from rolling around in the clay on a hot day in Estoril. Not Goffin’s best surface either.
Jaziri appears determined to not let this one get away.
Not Jaziris , but he’s decent on it
I wouldn’t write Zverev off an any surface esp clay
Okay Big Al. You usually know about these things. I’ll just say I don’t trust him on clay right now.
I still won’t be picking him to win any tournaments.The whole thing seems up in the air at the moment
I picked Coric to beat him in my bracket,but first he has to get past RBA
Oh dear, Zverev…. Bombing out at the bigger tournaments while in a slump? Understandable. But surely he should have no problem winning a 250, right? Or even just going deep at a 250? Apparently not. He’s young enough to where it’s not like he doesn’t have plenty of time to turn things around. It’s just crazy that for the last two seasons, he was the non-Big 3 guy who always had a legitimate shot to win any of the best-of-3 big titles. In 2017 and 2018, he won 3 Masters titles and the World Tour Finals. And he beat at least one member of the Big 3 in three of those four titles. He’s at the perfect age for capitalizing on the success at those bigger tournaments, so it’s just really disappointing. Again, I’m not even talking about the Majors- just the big non-Major tournament’s, he was always a contender. Since the start of this season, I can’t even view him as a contender at Masters tournaments anymore. I sure hope for the sake of the future of men’s tennis that he gets it together.
Well, no. i didn’t think he’d win in munich this year, Kevin. I picked Struff to take him out, or Cecchinato, or even Garin would take him out. Garin is a fairly young but mature and crafty clay court player.
Maybe clay was never going to be his best surface, like Tsitsipas. It’s a pity. We need these young players to be ambitious and make themselves into top, consistent competitors.
Meanwhile it’s a very tight match between Berrettini and Kohls! I’m cheering for old Kohli but I don’t know….Kohls didn’t get a bye and he’s had tough matches to get to this far.
Berrettini is another big bruiser that does like clay. At least he’s better than Khachanov.
Garin just won Houston and has a big future. No suprise Zverev lost given his recent sub-par form.
I love Gael Monfils. Poor kid, ADF has taken a few tumbles on the clay but this last one was a heavy fall and he laid there. Gael comes over and helps him up, says some empathetic words, I’d guess. Such a gentleman, Monfils. ADF has physically given this match his all.
ADF attempting to serve for the match. ADF wins omg. Shocker. Unbelievable competitor this 19 yr old. He and his team can’t believe it.
Chin up Monfils, Good luck in Madrid!
Cold: Mischa Zverev lol He is more than cold, he’s been frozen for nerly 12 months now. When was the past time he won an ATP match that wasnt a retirement.
Well, to be fair, when was Mischa Zverev ever “hot” haha? I’ve always liked Mischa, though. Seems like a good guy.
Very talented
This Fokina kid is playing very well, hitting hard but plays with all sorts of varieties. He seems to have a good tennis IQ and he’s only 19 going on 20. He’s from Spain but I heard from the commentators that he’s of Swedish (father)/Russian (Mother) origin. He’s giving Cuevas all sorts of problems at the moment at Estoril.
Tsitsipas will have a hard time beating this kid should they meet in the final.
Nice kid, but I think Cuevas is going to take him out. He looks bushed and hurt now at 3-2 on serve in the 3rd. Either way Tsitsi should win. FKA hurt his ab earlier, hitting a ball up into the stands after Cuevas broke him. He’s got something to learn about keeping his temper and not showing fatigue and pain. H’mm, he’s wearing mismatched socks – when did that happen?
I couldn’t believe ADF was actually playing as well as he was today. He was so good all the way through qualifying, then in the main draw beating Fritz and Chardy. Then yesterday he stunned Monfils but in the process ADF fell down hard at least three times and the last fall ADF took, it was a wonder he even got up (with the help of Monfils) – ADF is incredible. But he was hurting today vs Cuevas. Tsitsipas got lucky that he didn’t have to face a healthy ADF!! He’s going to be right up there in talent and abilities with the best of the young guns.
Favorite surface: CLAY 😀