Houston preview and predictions

Time flies when you’re having fun, and that means the clay-court swing is already upon the tennis world. Yes, three months of the season have come and gone. Roger Federer fans are having a ton of fun, Rafael Nadal fans are having some fun, and fans of the top two players in the world (Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray) are having no fun at all.

All four of the aforementioned stars are predictably resting this week, so titles in Houston and Marrakech are totally up for grabs. The four first-round bye recipients in Houston are the four players who just represented the United States in the Davis Cup quarterfinals last weekend. Jack Sock, John Isner, Sam Querrey, and Steve Johnson will be making quick turnarounds after losing at Australia, but the good news is they do not have to play until Thursday.

U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship

Where: Houston, Texas
Surface: Clay
Points: 250
Prize money: $535,625

Top seed: Jack Sock
Defending champion: Juan Monaco

Draw analysis: Sock captured the Houston title and finished runner-up last year, so this has to be considered one of his favorite tournaments. In order to achieve more success, however, he will have to make an immediate transition from hard courts to clay while also recovering in the aftermath of long flights to and from Australia. The 16^th-ranked American is an awesome 18-5 this season with titles in Auckland and Delray Beach and his draw is not a terrible one, so there is some reason for optimism in addition to his past prowess in Houston. Sock will open against 39-year-old Tommy Haas before a potential quarterfinal date with Feliciano Lopez. Johnson also finds himself in the top half of the bracket along with veterans Fernando Verdasco, Kevin Anderson, and Dustin Brown.

Like Sock, Isner is a past champion of this event (2013). He was also a runner-up in 2012 and a semifinalist last year. But the 6’10’’ American has struggled in 2017 and he is also coming off Davis Cup duty, so the bottom half of the draw will be wide open among the likes of Isner, Querrey, Donald Young, Thomaz Bellucci, and plenty of others. Isner likely awaits Leonardo Mayer in his opener, while Querrey will kick off his campaign against one of two established clay-courters in veterans Horacio Zeballos and Rogerio Dutra Silva.

First-round upset alert: Thiago Monteiro over (7) Donald Young. Young is in the best and certainly most consistent form of his life right now, with a 13-6 record this season that is highlighted by back-to-back fourth-round appearances in Indian Wells and Miami. But hard courts are by far his favorite surface and a transition to red clay could prove to be difficult. It may not help that an accomplished dirt-baller in Monteiro awaits right away in round one. The 22-year-old Brazilian, who is also left-handed, has already reached clay-court quarterfinals this season in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.

Hot: Jack Sock, Donald Young, Frances Tiafoe, Ernesto Escobedo

Cold: John Isner, Kevin Anderson, Tommy Haas

Quarterfinal predictions: Feliciano Lopez over Jack Sock, Fernando Verdasco over Steve Johnson, Thomaz Bellucci over Sam Querrey, and Leonardo Mayer over Thiago Monteiro

Semifinals: Verdasco over Lopez and Bellucci over Mayer

Final: Verdasco over Bellucci

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Comments and your own predictions are appreciated!