RICKY DIMON’S PICKS FOR WINSTON-SALEM BOASTS IMPRESSIVE FIELD IN WEEK LEADING UP TO U.S. OPEN

Written by: Staff on 23rd August 2015

Tennis Davis Cup - Great Britain vs France

RICKY DIMON'S PICKS FOR WINSTON-SALEM BOASTS IMPRESSIVE FIELD IN WEEK LEADING UP TO U.S. OPEN

epa04850453 Gilles Simon of France returns to Britain's James Ward during their match for the Davis Cup quarter-final between Great Britain and France at the Queens Club in London, Britain, 17 July 2015. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

You will never see a better draw the week before a Grand Slam than the one at the 2015 Winston-Salem Open. While the entire top 10 is taking a predictable rest in advance of the U.S. Open, several players who will be seeded in New York are set to fine-tune their games a this 250-point tournament. Among them are Gilles Simon, Kevin Anderson, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Winston-Salem Open

Where: Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Surface: Hard

Prize money: $616,210

Points: 250

Top seed: Gilles Simon

Defending champion: Lukas Rosol

Draw breakdown:

It’s borderline unreasonable to assess who has a good draw and who doesn’t in any week leading up to a major. The action is simply too unpredictable with some players motivated to do well and perhaps steal a 250-point title, while others either already have the sights set on New York or are looking to get just a little bit more match practice.

On paper, at least, the top half may be tougher thanks primarily to a trio of Frenchman. Joining Simon and Tsonga is a relatively in-form Benoit Paire, who advanced one round in Cincinnati before going up against Novak Djokovic in an entertaining two-setter. Tsonga is on a quarterfinal collision course with Paire, who faces an intriguing opener versus Hyeon Chung. Also keep an eye on injury-plagued veterans Tommy Haas (vs. Pablo Carreno Busta in round one) and Marcos Baghdatis (awaits either Sergiy Stakhovsky or Pierre-Hugues Herbert).

Baghdatis, who has been out since finishing runner-up in Atlanta because of a groin injury, opens with Stakhovsky. The Ukrainian’s only previous win over Baghdatis (the head-to-head series stands at 1-1) came the week before the U.S. Open back in 2012, when this event was held in New Haven.

Last year’s two finalists find themselves near the bottom of the bracket. A rematch could come as early as the second round, but defending champion Lukas Rosol would first half to get past Ernests Gulbis before facing 2014 runner-up Jerzy Janowicz. Rosol triumphed 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 to capture the title in dramatic fashion. Janowicz is coming off a third-round performance in Cincinnati, but he is still wildly inconsistent.

A blockbuster first-round showdown pits Thanasi Kokkinakis against Cincinnati semifinalist Alexandr Dolgopolov. The winner of that one could be considered the favorite in an otherwise weak third section of the draw.

Yen-Hsun Lu, a semifinalist last year, is already through to the second round after taking care of Robin Haase on Sunday. He has a good draw to, with Guillermo Garca-Lopez looming in the second round. Garcia-Lopez has not played since Hamburg in late July due to injury and he has not won a match since Queen’s Club.

Predictions:

Quarterfinals: Sam Querrey over Gilles Simon, Yen-Hsun Lu over Sam Groth, Thomaz Bellucci over Thanasi Kokkinakis, and Borna Coric over Lukas Rosol

Semifinals: Yen-Hsun Lu over Sam Querrey and Borna Coric over Thomaz Bellucci

Final: Lu over Coric

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

Topics: Atp World Tour, Ricky Dimon, Tennis News, Winston Salem Open

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10sBalls_com says:

August 23, 2015 at 10:48 pm

-@Dimonator’s PICKS FOR WINSTON-SALEM BOASTS IMPRESSIVE FIELD IN WEEK LEADING UP TO @usopen- http://t.co/r83ihnDFvI #WinstonSalem #ATP