Marseilles
Some big hitters in town for this one. Tsonga, Del Potro, Fish and Tipsarevic are the big 4 and in form. Of course, the French do well at home and several dangermen lurk including Llodra, Mathieu, Clement and Gasquet.
A great potential 2nd round match is Del Potro against a rejuvenated Davydenko with possibly meeting Gasquet in the 3rd round. Not bad for a 250 tournament!
Let’s break it down:
Surface: Indoor Hard
Defending Champion: Robin Soderling
Dark Horse: Michael Llodra
My pick: Juan Martin Del Potro
Memphis
A loaded field in Memphis for this 500 level tournament. The top half looks stronger with some nice looking 1st rounders with 2 all American matches including young aces Harrison vs. Sock and Blake vs. Sweeting.
With Isner’s win against Federer, he comes in as the man to beat while Roddick is looking over his shoulder more and more these days and will be looking to make an impression here. Tomic is a threat so long as he doesn’t get pulled over on the way to the tournament while other new star Raonic, gets a tricky opener against under achiever Ernests Gulbis, but he should come through.
Let’s break it down:
Surface: Indoor Hard
Defending Champion: Andy Roddick
Dark Horse: Bernard ‘Atomic’ Tomic
My pick: John Isner
Watch: Memphis Uncovered
Buenos Aires
There will be huge support for locals Nalbandian and Monaco, who are playing well and recently back from their Davis Cup victory in Germany.
Several Argentines are playing well too including Leo Mayer and Carlos ‘The Jackal’ Berlocq. Horacio Zeballos gets a wild card and it’s about time he stepped it up. Other wildcard goes to Fernando Gonzalez in his farewell run of tournaments. Ferrer and Almagro will be the 2 to beat however.
Let’s break it down:
Surface: Indoor Hard
Defending Champion: Nicolas Almagro
Dark Horse: David ‘Nails’ Nalbandian
My pick: David ‘The Wall’ Ferrer
Watch: Buenos Aires Uncovered
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