Daniil Medvedev will not get more than 10 days of rest following his brutal but extremely successful hard-court summer, as the Moscow native will bounce back from a runner-up run at the U.S. Open by playing at home in Russia this week. Medvedev is joined in the St. Petersburg field by Karen Khachanov Borna Coric, and U.S. Open semifinalist Matteo Berrettini. In Metz, meanwhile, a strong French contingent includes Benoit Paire, Lucas Pouille, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet, and defending champion Gilles Simon.
Moselle Open
Where: Metz, France
Surface: Indoor hard
Points: 250
Prize money: 524,340 Euros
Top seed: David Goffin
Defending champion: Gilles Simon
Draw analysis: A whole host of players are taking their talents from Pouille’s wedding this past weekend (including Pouille, himself) to the indoor hard courts of Metz. Two of them—Pouille and David Goffin—have first-round byes to give themselves extra recovery time from whatever shenanigans took place. Goffin’s draw is not easy, as he could kick off his campaign against Pablo Carreno Busta before possibly running into Simon. Paire and Gasquet are in line for a second-round meeting, with the winner potentially to face Winston-Salem champion Hubert Hurkacz in the quarters.
Pouille awaits either Antalya champion Lorenzo Sonego or a qualifier for his opener. It is a favorable draw for the fourth seed, although Fernando Verdasco is always dangerous. The bottom half of the bracket is also home to Tsonga, Nikoloz Basilashvili, Jan-Lennard Struff, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and Ugo Humbert.
First-round upset alert: Pierre-Hugues Herbert over (8) Jan-Lennard Struff. Struff leads the head-to-head series 4-1, but they have not faced each other since 2017 and Herbert won their only previous indoor hard-court encounter. The eighth-seeded German is coming off a successful but long summer and it remains to be seen how much he has left in the tank for the fall swing. Herbert should benefit from home-court advantage in France.
Hot: David Goffin, Hubert Hurkacz, Jan-Lennard Struff, Pablo Andujar
Cold: Filip Krajinovic, Peter Gojowyczk, Steve Darcis
Semifinal predictions: Hubert Hurkacz over David Goffin and Ugo Humbert over Fernando Verdasco
Final: Hurkacz over Humbert
[crowdsignal poll=10409321]
St. Petersburg Open
Where: St. Petersburg, Russia
Surface: Indoor hard
Points: 250
Prize money: $1,180,000
Top seed: Daniil Medvedev
2018 champion: Dominic Thiem (not playing)
Draw analysis: Medvedev might be here just for the appearance fee. And who can blame him? The fourth-ranked Russian is one of the biggest names and biggest draws in tennis right now following his ridiculous summer that featured four consecutive finals, including the Cincinnati title. There is no reason (other than money) for him to playing a 250-point tournament so soon after those efforts, and he has already officially qualified for his debut appearance in the Nitto ATP Finals. If Medvedev stumbles early, Berrettini and a similarly in-form Andrey Rublev are more than capable of capitalizing.
On the other side of the draw, Khachanov and Coric are vulnerable as the two competitors with first-round byes. Coric has been struggling physically and Khachanov may have other things on his mind following the recent birth of his first child. Unseeded threats Thomas Fabbiano, Alexander Bublik, and Jannik Sinner all won plenty of matches this summer and could make some noise.
First-round upset alert: Jannik Sinner over (6) Mikhail Kukushkin. Sinner is coming. And soon. The Italian just turned 18 and he is already up to No. 128 in the world. His summer exploits include an epic Wimbledon qualifying loss to Alex Bolt, a Challenger title in Lexington (beat Bolt in the final), and successful qualification at the U.S. Open followed by an entertaining four-set setback against eventual quarterfinalist Stan Wawrinka. Kukushkin is in fine form right now, but he is 1-4 in his last five matches at this event and his one win during this stretch has come via retirement.
Hot: Daniil Medvedev, Matteo Berrettini, Andrey Rublev, Mikhail Kukushkin, Jannik Sinner, Thomas Fabbiano
Cold: Borna Coric, Dudi Sela, Roberto Carballes Baena, Stefano Travaglia, Janko Tipsarevic
Semifinal predictions: Andrey Rublev over Adrian Mannarino and Thomas Fabbiano over Jannik Sinner
Final: Fabbiano over Rublev
[crowdsignal poll=10409324]
who ya got?
Bedene.
Well, not that I’m feeling Medvedev like I was at US Open, but I picked him to win because he’s at home and I reckon he will want the ranking points and title. We shall see how ambitious he is. I’d rather see someone else beat him. Berrettini was my pick for that but I changed it. Although I like your Fabbiano and Rublev picks!
Goffin….& Rublev.
I went with sensible picks Med and Goffin, but my gut says not.Rublev and Simon or other Frenchman.
But I don’t often go with gut,it takes confidence I guess.
I don’t know about Med.He’s most likely on a downer after such a brilliant summer,but he might want to win this in front of his home crowd.But so will Rublev and Khachanov
Where does your Fabbiano obsession come from? Pretty sure I saw a prediction a few weeks ago as well, with you believing in him. Weird stuff.
So you just erase your Simon over Bedene in 2 pick? dumbass should of listen to me.
How stupid is Ricky? He would not listen to my Bedene pick beginning of tournament. Everyday he picked Bedene to lose 2-0 and every day was proven wrong and now we are in the finals. This guy is a tennis expert?