The AEGON Open used to be held the third week of June in Eastbourne, featuring a draw of 28 players. Now, dating back to last year, it takes place the fourth week of June in Nottingham and boasts a field of 48. But one thing remains the same: it is the final tune-up event before Wimbledon.
With a Grand Slam on the immediate horizon, no tournament is going to bowl over any tennis fan with intrigue and excitement. That being said, this is a solid field by 250-point standards. Kevin Anderson tops the draw as the No. 1 seed, followed by the likes of Alexandr Dolgopolov, Marcos Baghdatis, Vasek Pospisil, Fernando Verdasco, and many others.
AEGON Open
Where: Nottingham, Great Britain
Surface: Grass
Prize money: 648,255 Euros
Points: 250
Top seed: Kevin Anderson
Defending champion: Denis Istomin
Draw analysis: In one week, Anderson went from playing qualifying (Queen’s Club) to being a No. 1 seed (Nottingham). But top billing does not mean he has a favorable draw. The South African awaits either Ivan Dodig or Julien Benneteau before a potential third-round affair with Fernando Verdasco. The second eighth of the bracket is weaker, so if Anderson and Verdasco face off in the last 16, an easier quarterfinal may be the winner’s reward.
A two-time finalist and one-time champion of the AEGON Open, Andreas Seppi has to like his chances of making another run at this tournament. The veteran Italian is surrounded in the draw by clay-courters like Paolo Lorenzi and Guido Pella. Joao Sousa can do damage on any surface, but he is not exactly in fine form at the moment. Adrian Mannarino or Taylor Fritz could give Seppi some problems in the third round.
Watch out for Gilles Muller in the bottom half of the bracket, which is home to five British competitors. Of the five, only Kyle Edmund is capable of being a real factor this week but he has to open against Lukas Rosol and would then run into Dolgopolov. Muller is coming off a runner-up finish in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and a quarterfinal performance at Queen’s Club. Is the 32-year-old Luxembourgian in line for his first ATP title? It’s possible, but Baghdatis and Sam Querrey could play a spoiler role.
Second-round upset alerts: Lukas Rosol over (4) Alexandr Dolgopolov. Dolgopolov still hasn’t played a match since round one of the Rome Masters. He was set to come back this past week in Queen’s Club but ended up withdrawing because of an abdominal injury. Rosol is by no means on fire right now, but he may be strong enough on grass to take advantage of Dolgopolov’s woes.
Denis Istomin over (11) Vasek Pospisil. Istomin should be able to get past Damir Dzumhur in the opening round, at which point the competition would get tougher in the form of Pospisil. But the Canadian is in dreadful form right now and may already be looking ahead to a very important Wimbledon, which will see him try to defend at least some of his 2015 quarterfinal points.
Jordan Thompson over (13) Guido Pella. It’s not often that Pella is seeded at a grass-court tournament. The last time we saw the Argentine was at the French Open, where he lost a grueling five-setter to Gilles Simon in the second round. That isn’t surprising given how much Pella hates grass. In fact, he has played only two ATP-level matches on this surface in his entire career (won zero), and none since 2013.
Hot: Gilles Muller, Marcos Baghdatis, Jordan Thompson, Taylor Fritz
Cold: Kevin Anderson, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Vasek Pospisil, Julien Benneteau, James Ward
Quarterfinal predictions: Fernando Verdasco over Steve Johnson, Andreas Seppi over Joao Sousa, Gilles Muller over Lukas Rosol, and Sam Querrey over Ricardas Berankis
Semifinals: Seppi over Verdasco and Muller over Querrey
Final: Muller over Seppi
[polldaddy poll=9449050]
who ya got?
Interesting pick of Muller. I would love to see him do it. Also it would make sense because he would hit top 32 right after seedings came out so that would of course happen that way lol. He’s a top 20 grass player in my opinion though. Hope he gets a good Wimby draw cuz he could do some serious damage and make some noise unless he gets like Djokovic or something first or second round. This tourney is definitely big opportunity for him. Hope he takes it. Will have my picks out shortly.
Making my picks after qualifiers are in. I think some of them like hernych Groth and Robert could do some damage with the right draws so I’m gonna hold off on picks til then. Except I will say that in the top quarter that has no qualifiers I’m thinking Verdasco over Johnson.
Muller is a serve bot bum. Dogopolov is a talented mug. Anderson is in bad form. I see a surprise champ no one expects to win.
Muller has insane volleys too though. I saw him at Atlanta last year and watched every match of his and he was on fire until he made too many errors in his semifinal against Baghdatis. He was ripping his groundies that week too so I wouldn’t call him a servebot though his biggest weapon is his serve but not just because the speed but because his incredible placement with it. One of the best lefty serves out there along with Lopez.
Mueller 8/1, Becker 33/1 would be “my fav” and my “longshot”…. that said “Thiem isn’t playing” steals the show.
Nottingham picks:
QF-
Nando over Johnson
Seppi over Sousa
Muller over Kukushkin
Querrey over Evans
SF-
Nando over Seppi
Muller over Querrey
Final-
Muller over Verdasco
I’m a big fan of Muller so I’m picking him and I think this is a perfect opportunity for him to take his first title. At first I was thinking Verdasco over Muller but I’m thinking Muller won’t slip up this time. Two finals in three weeks is good but I think he’ll go one step further and really get some confidence for Wimbledon. He won’t be a seed (though he would probably hit top 32 with a title here) but he will still be dangerous at Wimbledon unless he gets Murray or Djoker first round or some other crappy draw like that. I don’t think anyone wants to draw him early though. He’s the best unseeded grass courter imo along with Mahut and Dreddy (at his best that is).
W Might be round the corner, and people are focused on that, sometimes watching the early rounds when its the top players, can be like watching paint dry, so predictable, and too easy, sometimes the lesser players can be involved in the better matches, which is why as a tennis fan, i love watching the warm up events, as you see some great tennis which we have witnessed this week, sometimes the or deurves are better than the main course ….
By the way HAPPY FATHERS DAY, to Ricky, the staff, and all the lovely male posters on this forum ;-)) ….
Kyle Edmund is strutting his stuff against Rosal who has surpassed himself by accusing the chair umpire of ‘cheating’ by favouring Edmund and if it continues he will leave the court. I’m not making it up 🙂
Kyle Edmund gets the win in straight sets. That the toe-rag Rosol once beat Rafa at Wimbledon still sickens me and is testament to how bad Rafa’s knees were at that point. It was the last time we were to see him play for seven long months.
Edmund’s game has come on in leaps and bounds. He said in the on-court interview until now he had always regarded grass as his weakest surface. Didn’t look that way against Murray at Queens or today.
How the hell did Rampras lose to Estrella Burgos?! Rah didn’t do anything last grass court season until Newport so he hasn’t dropped in ranking lately and is still in top 75 but his grass court season has been really poor. Hopefully he can still do alright at Wimby cuz he will need to get some points there and then try his best to defend the Newport title which he won’t if he doesn’t get back to his level from Newport last year or Delray this year.
Raj*
DISASTER loss
I have a feeling Anderson will beat Verdasco convincingly today..