Stockholm, Vienna, and Moscow previews and picks

After two star-studded weeks in Asia, the last 250-point tournaments of the season are set to share the limelight as 2013 comes down the stretch with a final European swing. The action begins on Monday in Stockholm, Vienna, and Moscow.  Each one of the three events features a single Top 10 player, with David Ferrer leading the way in Stockholm and World Tour Finals hopefuls Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet headlining in Vienna and Moscow, respectively.

If Stockholm Open

Where: Stockholm, Sweden
Surface: Indoor hard
Prize money: 530,165 Euros
Points: 250

Top seed: David Ferrer
2012 champion: Tomas Berdych (not playing)

Draw analysis: Ferrer managed to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals, but his post-Wimbledon play has been otherwise lackluster. He will have to pick up the pace if he wants to take care of business as the top seed and capture the Stockholm title. The draw did not do any favors for Ferrer, who could open with Bernard Tomic before facing either Ivan Dodig or Fernando Verdasco in the quarterfinals. Potential semifinal opponents for Ferrer include Jerzy Janowicz and Ernests Gulbis. Janowicz, especially dangerous on indoor hard courts, has not played since the U.S. Open and he has not won a match since the Montreal second round.

Milos Raonic, on the other hand, may be able to breeze into the final. His nearest seed is Benoit Paire and the Canadian’s possible seeded quarterfinal adversaries are Kevin Anderson and Grigor Dimitrov. None of those three players is in particularly good form at the moment. The Anderson-Dimitrov section is the most wide-open of all, although the unseeded contingent in that part of the bracket is far from daunting and may not be able to capitalize.

First-round upset alert: Jeremy Chardy over (5) Ernests Gulbis. Gulbis is nearing the finish line of a solid season, which includes a fall indoor title in St. Petersburg. However, the Latvian has not played since that mid-September event due to illness. Gulbis leads the head-to-head series 2-1, but Chardy dominated their most recent encounter 6-2, 7-6(1), 6-4 at the 2010 U.S. Open. The Frenchman advanced one round earlier this month in Tokyo before succumbing to Raonic.

Hot: Milos Raonic, Ernests Gulbis, Ivan Dodig, Pablo Carreno Busta

Cold: David Ferrer, Jerzy Janowicz, Kevin Anderson, Grigor Dimitrov, Igor Sijsling

Semifinal predictions: Jerzy Janowicz over Ivan Dodig and Milos Raonic over Kevin Anderson

Final: Raonic over Janowicz

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Erste Bank Open

Where: Vienna, Austria
Surface: Indoor hard
Points: 250
Prize money: 501,355 Euros

Top seed: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
2012 champion: Juan Martin Del Potro (not playing)

Draw analysis: The top half of the Vienna draw is positively loaded. One head-to-head showdown that is already assured pits Vasek Pospisil against Lleyton Hewitt. Pospisil and Hewitt find themselves in a quarter that also includes Fabio Fognini, who has played the best tennis of his career in the second half of 2013. Another intriguing matchup could come to fruition in the quarterfinals, with Tsonga and Gael Monfils in the top section. Both Frenchmen fared well in Shanghai before going down to eventual champion Novak Djokovic (Monfils in the quarters and Tsonga in the semis).

Germans Tommy Haas and Philipp Kohlschreiber, the first-round bye recipients in the other half, may have an easier time of things. Haas has a favorable draw, but he is his own question mark this week. The 35-year-old German withdrew from a scheduled Shanghai third-round match against eventual runner-up Juan Martin Del Potro due to a back injury. Kohlschreiber, meanwhile, pushed Del Potro to a third-set tiebreaker in the second round. His path to the Vienna semis, which might include Lukas Rosol in the last eight, could not be any easier.

First-round upset alert: Lleyton Hewitt over (7) Vasek Pospisil. This, of course, would only be an upset on paper. Pospisil is in the midst of a breakout season on tour, but Hewitt is an expert at breaking down big hitters with his consistent baseline play. While the Aussie’s defense may not be what it once was, he is still a top-notch competitor. Hewitt cruised through their only previous meeting 6-1, 6-1 last summer on the grass courts of Newport.

Hot: Fabio Fognini, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Vasek Pospisil

Cold: Radek Stepanek, Lukas Rosol, Lukasz Kubot

Semifinal predictions: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga over Lleyton Hewitt and Philipp Kohlschreiber over Radek Stepanek

Final: Tsonga over Kohlschreiber

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Kremlin Cup

Where: Moscow, Russia
Surface: Indoor hard
Prize money: $746,750
Points: 250

Top seed: Richard Gasquet
Defending champion: Andreas Seppi

Draw analysis: Moscow is the only tournament this week that boasts just one World Tour Finals contender. As such, Gasquet is the clear favorite to take home the title. His first match could be the toughest of the week, though, if it comes against Marcos Baghdatis. The Cypriot is wrapping up a dismal year, but he has a few match wins under his belt since the start of the U.S. Open and he extended Del Potro to three sets in the Tokyo first round. A relatively in-form Denis Istomin, who advanced to the second week in New York, is on a collision course with Gasquet for the semifinals. Istomin is in a section that also features Ivo Karlovic and a slumping Janko Tipsarevic.

Joao Sousa is back in action following his incredible two-week stretch with a semifinal finish in St. Petersburg and a title in Kuala Lumpur. The Moscow bottom half is entirely wide open, so another run by the Portuguese upstart would not come as a big surprise. No. 4 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov has a particularly kind draw and he should be able to coast into the semifinals, where he would be likely to face either Sousa or second-seeded Andreas Seppi.

First-round upset alert: Ricardas Berankis over (6) Horacio Zeballos. Zeballos will always be able to say that he beat Rafael Nadal, and that he beat him during one of the Spaniard’s best-ever seasons. Since that upset in the Vina Del Mar final, however, Zeballos owns a horrendous 9-21 match record. Berankis is in similarly dismal form, but court surface may be the overriding factor in a match between two struggling players. The Argentine would almost certainly prevail on clay, but Berankis should have a great chance on indoor hards.

Hot: Richard Gasquet, Evgeny Donskoy, Denis Istomin

Cold: Janko Tipsarevic, Dudi Sela, Ricardas Berankis, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Horacio Zeballos

Semifinal predictions: Richard Gasquet over Denis Istomin and Joao Sousa over Alexandr Dolgopolov

Final: Gasquet over Sousa

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Comments and your own predictions are appreciated!