MEN’S TENNIS UPDATE : HARD-COURT SWING BEGINS IN BOGOTA, CLAY SEASON RESUMES IN HAMBURG BY RICKY DIMON

The U.S. Open Series is still a week away, but the ATP Would Tour is heading back to hard courts for the first time since March for the Claro Open Colombia. Meanwhile, the clay-court season resumes in Hamburg with the bet-at-home Open. Among those in action this week are Richard Gasquet, Ivo Karlovic, David Ferrer, Fabio Fognini, and Tommy Robredo.

 

Bogota

 

All four of the top four seeds will be heading to Atlanta next week, so they will first fine-tune their hard-court games at the Claro Open Colombia in advance of the U.S. Open Series. None of the four has particularly difficult draws; certainly not the top-seeded Gasquet. His nearest seed is Victor Estrella Burgos and potential semifinal opponent Vasek Pospisil, seeded third, has been slumping in singles. Gasquet could, however, begin his campaign against Newport semifinalist Samuel Groth, whose huge serve can sometimes take matters out of opponents’ hands.

 

Pospisil, who captured the Wimbledon doubles with Jack Sock, is in a tougher quarter of the bracket that also features Bernard Tomic, Adrian Mannarino, and Colombia’s own Alejandro Falla.

 

At the bottom of the draw, Karlovic will be making a quick turnaround after contesting the Newport title match against Lleyton Hewitt on Sunday afternoon. The 6’11” Croat will begin in Bogota versus either Facundo Arguello or Dudi Sela before a possible quarterfinal date with Matthew Ebden. Radek Stepanek, Alejandro Gonzalez, and Evgeny Donskoy are potential semifinal adversaries for Karlovic.

 

Hamburg

 

Last year’s bet-at-home Open was no small surprise, as Fognini toppled qualifier Federico Delbonis for the title. Both Fognini and Delbonis–who upset Roger Federer in the 2013 semifinals–are back on board for another go-around. Delbonis is seeded this time (13th) and he awaits either Jarkko Niemonen or Tobias Kamke. The Argentine is on course for a third-round meeting with Alexandr Dolgopolov, but Dolgopolov may be in line for an intriguing second-round clash against Jerzy Janowicz.

 

Hamburg’s top quarter is loaded with veterans in the form of Ferrer, Fernando Verdasco, Andreas Seppi, Pablo Andujar, and Juan Monaco. Seppi will open against Pablo Carreno Busta or Dustin Brown; those two just played each other in the Basel first round, as well (Carreno Busta won 6-3, 6-4).

 

Among the seeds in on the bottom side of the bracket are Fognini, Robredo, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Gilles Simon, and Joao Sousa. A possible second-round showdown between Sousa and Lukas Rosol will come to fruition if Rosol can win his opener against German wild card Julian Reister. Both Sousa (in Bastad) and Rosol (in Stuttgart) are contesting finals on Sunday. An interesting first-rounder pits up-and-comers Dominic Thiem and Jiri Vesely against one another. In a relatively open fourth of the draw, the Thiem-Vesely winner will face Marcel Granollers prior to a potential date with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the last 16.

Topics: Alexandr Dolgopolov, Atp World Tour, Bernard Tomic, Bogota, Claro Open, David Ferrer, Fabio Fognini, Fernando Verdasco, Hamburg, Ivo Karlovic, Richard Gasquet, Ricky Dimon, Tennis, Tennis News, Vasek Pospisil

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