It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to decipher which of the four Grand Slams produces the best lead-up week year in and year out. Sydney and Auckland never fail to deliver as a host of top players prepare their games for the season’s first major, the Australian Open.
2013 is no different in that regard. Only one Top 10 player (David Ferrer) is in action, but he is joined in Auckland by Tommy Haas, Gael Monfils, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Jerzy Janowicz. A similarly impressive Sydney field boast John Isner, Gilles Simon, Fernando Verdasco, Bernard Tomic, and Grigor Dimitrov. There’s a lot more than 250 ranking points at stake this week. No, far more important is gaining a happy feeling going into the Happy Slam.
Apia International
Where: Sydney, Australia
Surface: Hard
Prize money: $436,630
Points: 250
Top seed: John Isner
2011 champion: Jarkko Nieminen
Draw analysis: Last year’s installment of the Apia International produced an all-unseeded final between Jarkko Nieminen and Julien Benneteau. Is another all-unseeded title match in the cards for 2013? It’s not out of the question, because the contingent of seeds is far from daunting. The top-seeded Isner has been in dreadful form and he even had to withdraw in the middle of last week’s Hopman Cup due to knee problems. Simon, the No. 2 seed, is looking to bounce back from a quarterfinal Brisbane loss to Marcos Baghdatis. The other opening-round byes belong to Verdasco and Andreas Seppi. Seppi had an awesome season in 2012 and Verdasco helped Spain win the Hopman Cup, but neither one is a particularly scary opponent.
Benneteau, once again in the top half, has a great draw. His nearest seed is Radek Stepanek and the Frenchman could face either Isner or Ryan Harrison in the quarters. Nieminen, once again in the bottom half, begins against Bjorn Phau and would then meet Simon. A deep, balanced field features plenty of other unseeded contenders. Among them are Tomic, Dimitrov (the Brisbane runner-up), Kevin Anderson, and Brisbane doubles champion Tommy Robredo. Tomic will contest an all-Australian showdown with Marinko Matosevic in round one.
Brisbane final highlights: Dimitrov vs. Andy Murray [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXkqzJTbTSI]
First-round upset alert: (WC) Matthew Ebden over (8) Marcel Granollers. Interestingly enough, this is a rematch of a first-rounder from last season’s Sydney event; Ebden won that one 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Neither man is in particularly good form at the moment, so this could go either way. Ebden will have the Aussie crowd in his corner and he’ll be glad to go up against Granollers one more time on a hard court instead of clay.
Hot: Andreas Seppi, Roberto Bautista Agut, Denis Istomin, Aljaz Bedene, John Millman, Grigor Dimitrov
Cold: John Isner, Pablo Andujar, Matthew Ebden, Tommy Robredo
Semifinal predictions: Julien Benneteau over Kevin Anderson and Andreas Seppi over Gilles Simon
Final: Benneteau over Seppi
Heineken Open
Where: Auckland, New Zealand
Surface: Hard
Prize money: $433,400
Points: 250
Top seed: David Ferrer
Defending champion: David Ferrer
Draw analysis: Ferrer is going for a third consecutive title in Auckland and fourth overall at the event, but the draw did not do him any favors. In fact, it did not do any favors for anyone in the entire top half. In addition to the top-seeded Spaniard, it also features Tommy Haas, Jurgen Melzer, Thomaz Bellucci, Gael Monfils, Robin Haase, David Goffin, and Benoit Paire. Just to reach another final, Ferrer may have to get past Paire, either Goffin or Bellucci, and then either Haas or Monfils. Goffin and Bellucci have to face each other in tough first-rounder, while Haas’ path could be Haase-Monfils-Ferrer.
Things appear to be much more manageable for Kohlschreiber and Sam Querrey (who have first-round byes along with Ferrer and Haas) in the bottom section. Still, just about anyone could snag the second final spot because there are plenty of in-form contenders. Among them are Paris runner-up Janowicz, Vienna runner-up Grega Zemlja, and St. Petersburg champion Martin Klizan. Querrey and Janowicz are on a collision course for the last eight in what is by far the weakest quarter of the bracket. Kohlschreiber, who lost early in Doha to Monfils, awaits a likely opener against Zemlja.
First-round upset alert: Brian Baker over (5) Jerzy Janowicz. Baker’s 6-3, 7-6(8) Brisbane first-round loss to Dimitrov didn’t look too bad right when it happened and it became less and less disappointing as the week progressed. That being said, the outcome of this one is mostly dependent on Janowicz. The towering Pole surged out of obscurity and into the limelight in 2012, but he is too young to have sustained any kind of success. Will Janowicz suffer a “sophomore slump” amidst the weight of expectations in 2013 after his shocking run to the Paris final? We won’t know exactly until several months have elapsed, but we’ll begin to find out in Auckland.
Hot: David Ferrer, Jerzy Janowicz, Martin Klizan, Benoit Paire, Paolo Lorenzi, Grega Zemlja
Cold: Gael Monfils, Yen-Hsun Lu, Olivier Rochus, Xavier Malisse
Semifinals: David Ferrer over Tommy Haas and Sam Querrey over Grega Zemlja
Final: Ferrer over Querrey
Comments and your own predictions are appreciated!
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