Roger Federer’s recent knee injury has further depleted this week’s Rotterdam field, but the slack will be picked up by an amazing draw in Buenos Aires. That is where the Golden Swing continues with the likes of Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, John Isner, and Dominic Thiem—just to name a few. Meanwhile, the American hard-court swing begins in Memphis, with Kei Nishikori looking to capture a fourth consecutive title.
ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
Where: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Surface: Indoor hard
Prize money: 1,597,155 Euros
Points: 500
Top seed: Richard Gasquet
2015 champion: Stan Wawrinka (not playing)
Draw analysis: Federer is out. Nick Kyrgios had to withdraw, as well. Is the door open for Richard Gasquet to his second title in as many weeks or for Roberto Bautista Agut to lift his third winner’s trophy of this season? The Frenchman is coming off a title in Montepllier, where he contested his first tournament of the year in the heels of a back injury. Bautista Agut also triumphed on Sunday, getting the job done in Sofia (beat Viktor Troucki) after previously capturing a title in Auckland.
Gasquet, Bautista Agyut, and Troicki are all in the top half of then bracket. An opening test against compatriot Jeremy Chardy will put the No. 1 seed at risk right off the bat. A pair of intriguing first-rounders will be only display on the other side. Gael Monfils will kick off his week againts qualifier Ernests Gulbis, while Vasek Pospisil has to face am in-form Alexander Zverev. Second-seeded Marilic is off to a slow start in 2015 and will try to get back on track at the expense of Denis Istomin.
First-round upset alert: (Q) Ivan Dodig vs. (7) Benoit Paire. Paire was borderline awesome the last three months of 2015 and he began this year with a semifinal finish in Chennai. But the Frenchman has inexplicably morphed back into his former self, looking lost both mentally and tactically. Paire got upset by Noah Rubin right away in Melbourne and lost his first Montpellier match 6-3, 6-3 to Paul-Henri Mathieu. Dodig will be feeling confident and comfortable with two Rotterdam matches already in his back pocket.
Hot: Richard Gasquet, Roberto Bautista Agut, Viktor Troicki, Andrey Kuznetsov, Alexander Zverev
Cold: Marin Cilic, Benoit Paire, Ernests Gulbis, Borna Coric, Julien Benneteau
Quarterfinal predictions: Jeremy Chardy over Viktor Troicki, David Goffin over Roberto Bautista Agut, Gilles Simon over Gael Monfils, and Marin Cilic over Philipp Kohlschreiber
Semifinals: Goffin over Chardy and Simon over Cilic
Final: Goffin over Simon
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Memphis Open
Where: Memphis, Tennessee
Surface: Indoor hard
Prize money: $618,030
Points: 250
Top seed: Kei Nishikori
Defending champion: Kei Nishikori
Draw analysis: Nishikori has already three-peated in Memphis and now he is going for four. Who’s gonna stop him? It’s hard to see how anyone can. Look no further than the draw to confirm that this event is no longer with 500 points. Outside of Nishikori, this 250-point tournament boasts no player ranked better than 29th in the world (Steve Johnson). Only three men (Nishikori, Johnson, and Donald Young) are in the top 50.
The No. 1 seed will begin his title defense against one of two Americans—either Ryan Harrison or Frances Tiafoe. Potential quarterfinal opponents for Nishikori include Denis Kudla and Rajeev Ram, while big servers Sam Qurrey and Sam Groth also find themselves in the top half of the bracket. The other side, away from Nishikori, is where all the challengers want to be. A huge opportunity awaits Johnson, Young, and others such as John Millman, Ricardas Berankis, Dudi Sela, and Tim Smyczek.
First-round upset alert: Austin Krajicek over (7) John Millman. Krajicek is making a tough transition from clay (Quito) to an indoor hard court. Although Millman is not making a surface change, he had to travel across the pond and will not have much recovery time after reaching the Montpellier quarterfinals this past week. Krajicek will also enjoy home-court advantage in the United States against a fatigued opponent.
Hot: Kei Nishikori, Rajeev Ram, Illya Marchenko, Dudi Sela, John Millman, Taylor Fritz
Cold: Sam Groth, Ryan Harrison, Matthew Ebden, Marcel Granollers
Semifinal predictions: Kei Nishikori over Sam Querrey and Ricardas Berankis over Steve Johnson
Final: Nishikori over Berankis
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Argentina Open
Where: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Surface: Clay
Prize Money: $523,470
Points: 250
Top seed: Rafael Nadal
Defending champion: Rafael Nadal
Draw analysis: Nadal is returning to the Golden Swing to defend his Buenos Aires title while hoping to regain his form on the heels of a tough first-round Australian Open loss to Fernando Verdasco. This is Nadal’s third career appearance in Buenos Aires and second in a row. The Spaniard lost to Gaston Gaudio in the 2005 quarterfinals but triumphed in his second trip 10 years later with a 6-4, 6-1 final victory over good friend Juan Monaco. Nadal’s opening match this time around could come against Monaco, as well. A difficult top half of the bracket also features Verdasco, Isner, Thiem, Alexandr Dolgpolov.
Ferrer and Tsonga, at least on paper, do not have as many challengers on the other side. Tsonga could face Fabio Fognini in the quarters, but the Frenchman would first have to get past either Leonard Mayer or Guido Pella. Ferrer has by far the easiest draw of anyone in the tournament and should coast into the semis without any trouble.
First-round upset alert: Albert Ramos-Vinolas over (8) Pablo Cuevas. An in-form Ramos-Vinolas advanced one round at the Australian Open (destroyed Coric) and is coming off a semifinal showing in Quito. The Spaniard has plenty of clay-court matches under his belt, but will have also enjoyed enough rest prior to taking the court for this one. Cuevas has not played since a second-round Aussie Open loss to Nick Kyrgios.
Hot: Paolo Lorenzi, Daniel Munoz De La Nava, Guido Pella, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Renzo Olivo
Cold: Juan Monaco, Santiago Giraldo
Semifinal predictions: Rafael Nadal over Dominic Thiem and David Ferrer over Fabio Fognini
Final: Nadal over Ferrer
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who ya got?
Nadal will go out early. (Sadly)
very possible in the semis. I can’t see earlier than that….
#Verdasco
Semifinals maybe. I can’t see any earlier than that.
Rotterdam might have the softest draw of all time for a 500. Should be demoted to a 250 based on the draw. Washington maybe worse.
Washington 1000 times better
Memphis was way worse than Rotterdam even when it was a 500
Rafa could meet Andujar or Dolgo in the 3rd round. Andujar lost to Rafa in a final set TB 12-10 in 2014 Rio SF while Dolgo has beaten Rafa the last two times they’ve played and played him tight in the 2014 Rio final losing in a TB. He could get Isner or Verdasco in the SF.
His nemesis Fognini or a dogged Ferrer awaits in the other half.
#NotYourFathersRafa
#MissouriMisery
Haven’t seen today’s results yet so I’ll be making my predictions soon.
Rotterdam:
QF-
Gasquet over GGL
Goffin over RBA
Monfils over Simon
Cilic over Kohlschreiber
SF-
Gasquet over Goffin
Cilic over Monfils
Final-
Gasquet over Cilic
Rotterdam:
QF
Chardy over Troicki
Goffin over RBA
Simon over Monfils
Cilic over Kohlschreiber
SF
Chardy over Goffin
Cilic over Simon
F
Cilic over Chardy
rc,
Those are some good picks. I was just here posting my thoughts on Rotterdam. I could see it playing out that way. I would love to see Simon or Monfils have a chance to win here, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.
Whoa. You’re going pretty bold with Chardy to score upset though Gasquet may be tired from Montpellier.
Gasquet doing a lot of holding his side in pain during the Montpellier final – something he was not doing in the other rounds. I’m unsure about him making the final here.
Unsure about Chardy as usual, too. I don’t know. Right now I can’t get past RBA for the big 500 pt. win. I like a Goffin v RBA quarterfinal
Chardy will “beat” Gasquet
agree!
Memphis:
QF-
Nishikori over Kukushkin
Querrey over Marchenko
Berankis over Young
Johnson over Krajicek
SF-
Nishikori over Querrey
Johnson over Berankis
Final-
Nishikori over Johnson
all aboard the Berankis bandwagon!
lol
At first I thought you were nuts. But you are for reals.
?
… the Berankis bandwagon. You picked him to the final. At first I thought what? Then I see, it’s possible. I took Chung to the Sofia final last week. Big Hyeon Chung fan here.
Voted for Sascha to win Rotterdam 😀
You really think Zverev will win the event?
No …I’m dreaming. I can’t decide. Love Ricky’s Goffin pick and a Simon/Goffin final. But I keep thinking it’s time for “Marilic” to go from cold to hot and win Rotterdam.
Buenos Aires:
QF-
Nadal over Dolgopolov
Thiem over Isner
Tsonga over Fognini
Ferrer over Ramos-Vinolas
SF-
Nadal over Thiem
Ferrer over Tsonga
Final-
Nadal over Ferrer
Benny,
I like your picks for Buenos Aires!
I just realized I have the one seed over two seed at all tournies. #sosafeitsbold
well, it’s only expected to happen at one of the three
I digress from the tennis but why, when two players with the same clothing sponsor are playing each other, are they allowed to wear identical gear? Rosol and Vesely were indistinguishable from each other and merged into the lime green court to boot.
Have the replay on and was thinking that it’s a lot of green.
Vesely got a win at last. If I keep picking him…
Paire can be so useless and yet he could be so great.
At least they weren’t green with envy!
A-hahahahahahahahahahaha
Do you?
I mean, unless they are identical twins it shouldn’t be a problem….
I guess ir depends a lot on how well you know the players. It was a problem for for me because I’ve rarely seen Vesely play and avoid Rosol if I possibly can.
ed251137 (AT 4:42 PM),
At Wimbledon, all the players have to wear all-white clothing. Maybe they shouldn’t be allowed to? 🙂
Good point. But the camera work has a lot to do with it. At the bigger tournaments the camera work and angles are vastly superior. At Rotterdam it is shot pretty much from one angle with only the occasional close ups.
Yes, it’s very annoying when players synchronize the colours they wear. I was watched 2 blonde girls of the same height and build with hair tied back play each other in the same pink kit once. I didn’t enjoy it at all.
I heard a commie say the players are requested to coordinate their outfit if possible.
^^^ ‘I watched’
Fernando Verdasco withdrew due to a neck injury. He was replaced by Facundo Arguello, a Lucky Loser.
https://twitter.com/ArgentinaOpen/status/696745125762985984
good news for Isner
No problema for Rafa now.
I think Rafa should get through his half of the draw. I am hoping he wins this event, but not making any specific predictions for now.
I can’t see anyone other than Nishi winning Memphis.
Rotterdam is a joke without the likes of Fed, Stan and Murray. But I do think it’s a chance for someone else to step up and get the title. I am liking Simon, Monfils and Gasquet. I also think that Simon could have a good showing and there is an opportunity for Cilic to get a decent result.
No one is seeing Isner get by Thiem-interesting. Just because I’m biased, I say he will.
Dolgo just lost.
Very possible he will but Thiem beat Isner on clay last season and both are in pretty good form so it’s a tough call. I picked Thiem to win through because of the surface though. He may beat Rafa in semis if they play, but I picked Rafa to win that matchup.
not on clay no, unless Isner serves at like 90 percent (especially in tiebreakers)
Revised picks for Rotterdam after Gasquet withdrew (only changing top quarter so I won’t switch things around now that Goffin and GGL lost aka acting like the tourney hasn’t started with these):
Rotterdam:
QF-
Chardy over Troicki
Goffin over RBA
Monfils over Simon
Cilic over Kohlschreiber
SF-
Chardy over Goffin
Monfils over Cilic
Final-
Monfils over Chardy
(Just kind of threw these together quickly. Gasquet withdrawing when matche have already been played kinda throws it off for me. Anyways I think it’s safe to say buenos aires has a better draw than Rotterdam.)
I feel like putting Monfils over Simon and over Cilic may be a bit risky but eh. I was originally thinking Gasquet over Monfils (probably would’ve rethought that if I knew the injury Gasquet had from the Montpellier final) so yeah either way should be a good tournament. Pretty open field so there’s good opportunity for the players.
Wait nevermind I put Cilic over Monfils originally. I was wondering why I would put that because I remembered having Cilic in finals. Dunno why I thought I had that. Ok these are my actual revised predictions:
QF-
Chardy over Troicki
Goffin over RBA
Monfils over Simon
Cilic over Kohlschreiber
SF-
Chardy over Goffin
Cilic over Monfils
Final-
Cilic over Chardy
(Cilic to get back on track with a title in Rotterdam by taking down Chardy. Going with similar picks with Ratclif. Would’ve probably had Cilic winning to begin with if I realized how bad gasquets injury was from Montpellier final.)
Oh and I meant Chardy over GGL. Gonna be fair and act like I didn’t know Chung scored the upset lol.
Goffin is no longer in the tournament….
I know. I was putting up picks I would’ve put if I didn’t know results just to be fair I guess lol. I have my actual picks after Gasquet withdrawal and finished matches down below. I have Klizan losing to RBA in that quarter instead.
Now I’m gonna put up new picks WITH the results that already happened cuz why not:
QF-
Chardy over Troicki
RBA over Klizan
Monfils over Simon
Cilic over Kohlschreiber
SF-
RBA over Chardy
Cilic over Monfils
Final-
Cilic over RBA
(Cilic to avenge his AUS Open loss on a surface that helps him a bit more and take advantage of RBA’s likely fatigue at this point considering how much he has played lately.)