Rotterdam, Memphis, and Sao Paulo previews and predictions

With Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal still on the sideline, this may not be the best week of the February swing. But it’s still loaded, mostly thanks to Rotterdam. Andy Murray, Milos Raonic, Tomas Berdych, and Stan Wawrinka are all on board—just to name a few. Kei Nishikori, meanwhile, is leading the way in Memphis as the two-time defending champion. In Sao Paulo, Feliciano Lopez is the No. 1 seed at a second consecutive Golden Swing event.

ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament

Where: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Surface: Indoor hard
Total financial commitment: 1,600,855 Euros
Points: 500

Top seed: Andy Murray
Defending champion: Tomas Berdych

Draw analysis: How stacked is Rotterdam? Well, the No. 20 player in the world (Gael Monfils), is unseeded. So are four other players currently in the top 30 (David Goffin, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Julien Benneteau, and Lukas Rosol). Although danger abounds for the seeds, Murray should not have too much trouble playing his way into a potential semifinal rematch with Berdych. The Scot opens against qualifier Nicolas Mahut before possibly running into Kohlschreiber and then Gilles Simon. Berdych is scheduled to face Jerzy Janowicz, but the Pole retired from Sunday’s Montpellier final due to illness.

Like Murray at the top of the bracket, Raonic does not have much to complain about his draw at the bottom. Up first for the second-seeded Canadian is qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov and he could eventually run into the winner of a first-round showdown between good friends Ernests Gulbis and Dominic Thiem. A difficult third quarter features Wawrinka, Goffin, Grigor Dimitrov, Gilles Muller, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

First-round upset alert: Dominic Thiem over (6) Ernests Gulbis. Bresnik Bowl I saw Thiem come back from a two-set deficit to win in five at the 2014 U.S. Open, mainly because Gulbis was injured throughout the final three sets. The two good friends, who share the same coach in Gunter Bresnik, will meet again in Rotterdam. Neither one has recorded a single match win this year, so it is painfully difficult to judge either man’s confidence. Probably to a greater extent than Thiem, when Gulbis is cold, he is ice cold.

Hot: Andy Murray, Milos Raonic, Tomas Berdych, Andreas Seppi, Gilles Muller, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez

Cold: Ernests Gulbis, Dominic Thiem, Philipp Kohlschreiber

Quarterfinal predictions: Andy Murray over Gilles Simon, Tomas Berdych over Roberto Bautista Agut, Stan Wawrinka over David Goffin, and Milos Raonic over Marcel Granollers

Semifinals: Murray over Berdych and Wawrinka over Raonic

Final: Murray over Wawrinka

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Memphis Open

Where: Memphis, Tennessee
Surface: Indoor hard
Total financial commitment: $659,070
Points: 250

Top seed: Kei Nishikori
Defending champion: Kei Nishikori

Draw analysis: Nishikori may have to be ready for a legion of booming serves during his bid for a third consecutive title in Memphis. That’s because the other highest-seeded players in the top half of the draw are Ivo Karlovic and John Isner. Karlovic should not have too much trouble booking a spot alongside Nishikori in a potential quarterfinal, while Isner finds himself in an American-heavy quarter—where a total of four USA representatives reside (also Sam Querrey, Jared Donaldson, and Stefan Kozlov). No other section has more than one American (qualifiers not yet included).

The bottom half is not at all top-heavy but it is extremely deep. To say a spot in the final is wide open would be an understatement, in part because neither first-round bye recipient is especially daunting. Kevin Anderson is in solid but unspectacular form and Alexandr Dolgopolov has not gotten back on track since a knee injury last summer. The throng of contenders looking to capitalize features Steve Johnson, Bernard Tomic, Donald Young, Yen-Hsun Lu, and Marinko Matosevic.

First-round upset alert: Donald Young over (8) Adrian Mannarino. Mannarino is making a trek across the pond after losing his Rotterdam opener this past week. Young, on the other hand, is playing not far from his hometown of Atlanta. The 64th-ranked American will have home-court advantage and he has been in decent form early this season with a quarterfinal showing in Auckland and a second-round appearance at the Australian Open.

Hot: Kei Nishikori, Steve Johnson, Sam Groth, Jared Donaldson

Cold: Alexandr Dolgopolov, Igor Sijsling

Semifinal predictions: Kei Nishikori over John Isner and Bernard Tomic over Steve Johnson

Final: Nishikori over Tomic

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Brasil Open

Where: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Surface: Clay
Total financial commitment: $505,655
Points: 250

Top seed: Feliciano Lopez
Defending champion: Federico Delbonis

Draw analysis: Although he is rarely at his best on clay (despite his Spanish nationality), Lopez just reached his third ATP final on the slow stuff in what was his 12th career ATP final overall (lost to Victor Estrella Burgos on Sunday in Quito). As he looks to maintain momentum once again as the top seed, Lopez may be faced with another test against Fernando Verdasco or Dusan Lajovic. The 33-year-old beat both players in Quito and could meet the winner of a possible Verdaso-Lajovic second-round match in this week’s quarterfinals. All three of the local Brazilians in the field find themselves in the second section of the bracket. Thomaz Bellucci is the host nation’s best hope, but he has a tough draw starting with Martin Klizan before potentially getting Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round.

The question in the bottom half is: what will we see from Fabio Fognini? The Italian has been a disaster in singles for many months now, but he won the Australian Open doubles title with countryman Simone Bolelli. Will that inspire him into some singles form, as well? Fognini is in by far the weakest quarter of the draw, so he has no excuse. Should the third seed reach the semifinals, he could go up against either Tommy Robredo or defending champion Federico Delbonis.

First-round upset alert: Thomaz Bellucci over (8) Martin Klizan. Both men are looking to bounce back from Quito losses to Victor Estrella Burgos. Klizan got blown out 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals before Bellucci succumbed 7-6(5), 7-5 in the semis. Although the head-to-head series is tied at 2-2 (one Challenger match included), the Brazilian won their only previous clay-court meeting 6-3, 6-3 in the quarters of this same tournament in 2014.

Hot: Feliciano Lopez, Jiri Vesely

Cold: Tommy Robredo, Fabio Fognini, Santiago Giraldo, Juan Monaco, Nicolas Almagro

Semifinal predictions: Fernando Verdasco over Thomaz Bellucci and Fabio Fognini over Federico Delbonis

Final: Fognini over Verdasco

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Comments and your own predictions are appreciated!