NOTTINGHAM TENNIS UPDATE AND RICKY’S PICKS FOR 10SBALLS BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 20th June 2016

NOTTINGHAM TENNIS UPDATE AND RICKY'S PICKS FOR 10SBALLS BY RICKY DIMON

epa05364045 Spain's Fernando Verdasco in action against Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka during a first round match at the Aegon Tennis Championships at the Queen's Club in London, Britain, 14 June 2016. The ATP World Tour 500 Tournament takes place from 13 to 19 June 2016. EPA/HANNAH MCKAY |

Prior to 2015, the AEGON Open was staged the third week of June in Eastbourne, showcasing a draw of 28 players. Since last year, it now is held the fourth week of June in Nottingham and features a field of 48. But one thing is still the same: it marks players’ final opportunity to fine-tune their games for Wimbledon.

With a Grand Slam right around the corner, no event is going to bowl over any tennis fan with excitement. That being said, Nottingham boasts a strong field by 250-point standards. Kevin Anderson headlines the draw as the top seed, followed by Alexandr Dolgopolov, Marcos Baghdatis, Vasek Pospisil, Fernando Verdasco, among plenty of others.

In the span of just one week, Anderson went from playing qualifying (Queen’s Club) to being a No. 1 seed. But such a status does not mean he has a favorable draw. The South African will open against Ivan Dodig before a potential third-round contest against Fernando Verdasco. The second eighth of the bracket is weaker, so if Anderson and Verdasco square off in the last 16, a simpler quarterfinal may be the winner’s reward.

A two-time finalist and one-time champion of this tournament, Andreas Seppi has to like his chances of making another run. The Italian is surrounded in the draw by clay-courters like Paolo Lorenzi and Guido Pella. Joao Sousa is capable of being productive on any surface, but he is not exactly in stellar form right now. Adrian Mannarino or Taylor Fritz could give Seppi some trouble in the third round.

Andreas Seppi of Italy returns a shot during his first round match against David Ferrer of Spain at the ATP tennis tournament in Halle, Germany, 13 June 2016. EPA/FRISO GENTSCH

The bottom-half of the bracket was home to five British competitors until a few were eliminated on Sunday and Monday. Kyle Edmund is the one who could be a real factor this week after he took out Lukas Rosol in the opening round. Gilles Muller is coming off a runner-up performance in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and a quarterfinal showing at Queen’s Club. Is the 32-year-old Luxembourgian ready for his first-ever ATP title? It’s possible, but Baghdatis and Sam Querrey could stand in the way.

One potential second-round upset is Denis Istomin over No. 11 seed Vasek Pospisil. Istomin, the defending champion, first has to get pas Damir Dzumhur on Tuesday. As for Pospisil, he is in wretched form right now and may already be looking ahead to a very important Wimbledon, which will see him try to defend his 2015 quarterfinal points.

Ricky’s picks

Quarterfinals: Fernando Verdasco over Steve Johnson, Andreas Seppi over Joao Sousa, Gilles Muller over Lukas Rosol, and Sam Querrey over Ricardas Berankis

Semifinals: Seppi over Verdasco and Muller over Querrey

Final: Muller over Seppi

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

Gilles Mueller of Luxembourg in action during the final of the Ricoh Open against Nicolas Mahut of France in Rosmalen, The Netherlands, 13 June 2016. EPA/ANDRE DE HEUS

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