ISNER, SIMON JOIN THRONG OF YOUNG GUNS IN NICE AS FRENCH OPEN APPROACHES, RICKY DIMON LOOKS OVER DRAW

Written by: Staff on 16th May 2015

ISNER, SIMON JOIN THRONG OF YOUNG GUNS IN NICE AS FRENCH OPEN APPROACHES, RICKY DIMON LOOKS OVER DRAW

epa04732746 US tennis player John Isner in action against French Adrian Mannarino during their Madrid Open tennis tournament first round match played at Caja Magica sports pavilion in Madrid, Spain, 04 May 2015. EPA/CHEMA MOYA |

Tournaments during weeks immediately preceding a Grand Slam will not get much more impressive than the one in Nice, where Gilles Simon and John Isner headline a strong field as the top two seeds at the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur. On-the-rise stars getting one last tune-up in prior to the French Open include Nick Kyrgios, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Borna Coric, Jack Sock, and Dominic Thiem.

Fellow Ukrainians Alexandr Dolgopolov and Sergiy Stakhovsky have to face each other in the opening round and it may not be the last head-to-head showdown between countrymen. Isner is set for a likely second-round date with friend and fellow American Steve Johnson. An in-form Jack Sock could run into either Isner or Johnson in the quarterfinals. If Dolgopolov and Stakhovsky do not like their draw, there is some good news: the winner gets to play an ice-cold Ernests Gulbis. An up-for-grabs section also features Thiem and Kyrgios.

Kyrgios should win his opener against Mikhail Kukushkin and probably will, but Kukushkin is never a name seeded players want to see in the first round of any tournament. The Kazakh is one of the game’s streakiest performers; he can be painfully bad when at his worst, but his best can be very, very good.

Near the top of the draw, Kokkinakis and James Duckworth will do battle in an all-Aussie clash with the victor to face the top-seeded Simon. Bernard Tomic may await in the quarters, although he could have to go up against Coric in the second round. Argentines Leonardo Mayer and Juan Monaco are on a collision course for the last eight and both should advance to that point. But it is no guarantee, as potential roadblocks for Monaco come in the form of Benoit Paire and Sam Querrey. Mayer’s first opponent could be an up-and-coming Lucas Pouille.

Final pick: Monaco over Sock

Wawrinka is the obvious title favorite on paper at the inaugural Geneva Open, but how motivated will he be to do well at a 250-point tournament sandwiched right in between a Masters 1000 (Wawrinka upset Rafael Nadal in the Rome semifinals) and a Grand Slam? Will he treat it as nothing more than obligation to play at home in Switzerland? The top seed is not in the easiest of quarters, as both Andreas Haider-Maurer and Teymuraz Gabashvili are in solid form. But Wawrinka should have no trouble in his opener against either Yen-Hsun Lu or a qualifier. Possible semifinal opponents for the 2014 Australian Open champion include Pablo Andujar and the winner of everyone’s favorite first-round matchup between Joao Sousa and Joao Souza.

At the bottom of the bracket, the youngest player in the field (17-year-old Andrey Rublev) will go up against the tournament’s third oldest man (Jarkko Nieminen, 33, is two months younger than Jurgen Melzer and one month younger than Benjamin Becker). The Rublev-Nieminen winner should have a decent opportunity against a rusty Cilic in the last 16. With every seed in this half of the draw (Cilic, Benjamin Becker, Marcos Baghdatis, and Mikhail Youzhny) seemingly vulnerable, Santiago Giraldo and Thomaz Bellucci will be among those looking to steal a spot in the title match.

Bellucci over Baghdatis in the opening round would be an upset only according to seed (Baghdatis is No. 7). Clay obviously favors Bellucci, who qualified for the Rome main draw, advanced to the last 16, and took a set off Novak Djokovic. Baghdatis is in the midst of a bounce-back season, but he has been almost entirely absent from this current clay-court swing. The Cypriot would much rather implement his flat ball-striking on either a hard court or grass with Bellucci on the other side of the net.

Final pick: Giraldo over Andujar

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Open de Nice Côte d’Azur

ATP World Tour 250

Nice, France

17-23 May 2015

Men’s singles – click here

Men’s doubles – click here

Qualifying singles – click here

Order of play – click here

Topics: Atp World Tour, French Open, John Isner, Nice, Ricky Dimon

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10sBalls_com says:

May 16, 2015 at 11:36 am

-@JohnIsner, SIMON JOIN THRONG OF YOUNG GUNS IN NICE AS FRENCH OPEN APPROACHES, @Dimonator LOOKS OVER DRAW- http://t.co/NxjfIxvALt #tennis