Nice and Geneva previews and predictions

Tournaments during weeks immediately preceding a Grand Slam will not get much more impressive than the one in Nice, where Gilles Simon and John Isner headline a strong field as the top two seeds. On-the-rise stars getting one last tune-up in prior to the French Open include Nick Kyrgios, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Borna Coric, Jack Sock, and Dominic Thiem. In Geneva, meanwhile, major champions Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic are the two marquee attractions.

Open de Nice Cote d’Azur

Where: Nice, France
Surface: Clay
Prize money: 439,405 Euros
Points: 250

Top seed: Gilles Simon
Defending champion: Ernests Gulbis

Draw analysis: Fellow Ukrainians Alexandr Dolgopolov and Sergiy Stakhovsky have to face each other in the opening round and it may not be the last head-to-head showdown between countrymen. Isner is set for a likely second-round date with friend and fellow American Steve Johnson. An in-form Jack Sock could run into either Isner or Johnson in the quarterfinals. If Dolgopolov and Stakhovsky do not like their draw, there is some good news: the winner gets to play an ice-cold Ernests Gulbis. An up-for-grabs section also features Thiem and Kyrgios.

Near the top of the draw, Kokkinakis and James Duckworth will do battle in an all-Aussie clash with the victor to face the top-seeded Simon. Bernard Tomic may await in the quarters, although he could have to go up against Coric in the second round. Argentines Leonardo Mayer and Juan Monaco are on a collision course for the last eight and both should advance to that point. But it is no guarantee, as potential roadblocks for Monaco come in the form of Benoit Paire and Sam Querrey. Mayer’s first opponent could be an up-and-coming Lucas Pouille.

First-round upset alert: Mikhail Kukushkin over (6) Nick Kyrgios. Kyrgios should win this and probably will, but Kukushkin is never a name seeded players want to see in the first round of any tournament. The Kazakh is one of the game’s streakiest performers; he can be painfully bad when at his worst, but his best can be very, very good. Other worries for Kyrgios is that he is coming off a long week in Rome (albeit in doubles, not singles) and he generally raises his level only for much bigger, higher-profile tournaments than the one taking place in Nice.

Hot: John Isner, Jack Sock, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Lucas Pouille

Cold: Ernests Gulbis, Benoit Paire, Mikhail Kukushkin

Semifinal predictions: Juan Monaco over Gilles Simon and Jack Sock over Dominic Thiem

Final: Monaco over Sock

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Geneva Open

Where: Geneva, Switzerland
Surface: Clay
Prize Money: $439,405
Points: 250

Top seed: Stan Wawrinka
Defending champion: Inaugural event

Draw analysis: Wawrinka is the obvious title favorite on paper, but how motivated will he be to do well at a 250-point tournament sandwiched right in between a Masters 1000 (Wawrinka upset Rafael Nadal in the Rome semifinals) and a Grand Slam? Will he treat it as nothing more than obligation to play at home in Switzerland? The top seed is not in the easiest of quarters, as both Andreas Haider-Maurer and Teymuraz Gabashvili are in solid form. But Wawrinka should have no trouble in his opener against either Yen-Hsun Lu or a qualifier. Possible semifinal opponents for the 2014 Australian Open champion include Pablo Andujar and the winner of everyone’s favorite first-round matchup between Joao Sousa and Joao Souza.

At the bottom of the bracket, the youngest player in the field (17-year-old Andrey Rublev) will go up against the tournament’s third oldest man (Jarkko Nieminen, 33, is two months younger than Jurgen Melzer and one month younger than Benjamin Becker). The Rublev-Nieminen winner should have a decent opportunity against a rusty Cilic in the last 16. With every seed in this half of the draw (Cilic, Benjamin Becker, Marcos Baghdatis, and Mikhail Youzhny) seemingly vulnerable, Santiago Giraldo and Thomaz Bellucci will be among those looking to steal a spot in the title match.

First-round upset alert: Thomaz Bellucci over (7) Marcos Baghdatis. This would be an upset only according to seed. Clay obviously favors Bellucci, who qualified for the Rome main draw, advanced to the last 16, and took a set off Novak Djokovic. Baghdatis is in the midst of a bounce-back season, but he has been almost entirely absent from this current clay-court swing. The Cypriot would much rather implement his flat ball-striking on either a hard court or grass with Bellucci on the other side of the net.

Hot: Stan Wawrinka, Andreas Haider-Maurer, Andrey Rublev, Thomaz Bellucci

Cold: Marin Cilic, Mikhail Youzhny, Jurgen Melzer, Denis Istomin, Marinko Matosevic

Semifinal predictions: Pablo Andujar over Teymuraz Gabashvili and Santiago Giraldo over Thomaz Bellucci

Final: Giraldo over Andujar

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Comments and your own predictions are appreciated!