Ricky’s preview and predictions for this week’s ATP tournaments in Houston and Marrakech
By Ricky Dimon
It is probably hard to believe, but the spring clay-court swing is already upon us. The seven-week lead-up to Roland Garros is in progress with two 250-point events in Houston and Marrakech before things really start to heat up at Masters 1000 tournaments in Monte-Carlo, Rome, and Madrid. A strong field in Houston includes Miami champion John Isner. Sam Querrey, Jack Sock, and Nick Kyrgios. A less impressive draw in Marrakech features Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Kyle Edmund, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Richard Gasquet.
U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship
Where: Houston, Texas
Points: 250
Top seed: John Isner
Defending champion: Steve Johnson
In five trips to Houston, Sock has a second-round performance, a quarterfinal, a semifinal, a runner-up, and a title. His three most recent results–in order–are title, runner-up, and semifinal. But the same Sock has not been present this season, with a wretched 3-6 record and not one sequence of back-to-back match wins. This week’s No. 3 seed appears to have a difficult draw, too, with potentially Yoshihito Nishioka in his opening match, Ryan Harrison in the quarterfinals, and Isner in the semifinals. Isner is hoping to maintain momentum in a top quarter of the bracket that is American-heavy, although his second-round adversary will be either Germany’s Dustin Brown or Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland.
Kyrgios is back in action for just his fourth tournament of the year. The oft-injured Australian, who has been productive when healthy (10-3 record in 2018), is on a collision course for what would be an intriguing and likely contentious quarterfinal contest against Fernando Verdasco. Elsewhere in the bottom half of the draw, Querrey is in section along with countrymen Tennys Sandgren, Stefan Kozlov, and Donald Young.
Semifinal picks: Yoshihito Nishioka over Frances Tiafoe and Guido Pella over Nick Kyrgios
Final: Nishioka over Pella
Grand Prix Hassan II
Where: Marrakech, Morocco
Points: 250
Top seed: Albert Ramos-Vinolas
2017 champion: Borna Coric (not playing)
The Grand Prix Hassan II often crowns champions from well outside the top 10 or even top 20 or 30 in the rankings. Since Juan Carlos Ferrero and Stan Wawrinka triumphed respectively in 2009 and 2010, the list of champs features Pablo Andujar, Tommy Robredo, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Martin Klizan, Federico Delbonis, and Borna Coric. The story will be something similar in 2018, because no one inside the top 20 is playing. At No. 23, Ramos-Vinolas is the top seed ahead of Edmund, Kohlschreiber, and Gasquet. Alexandr Dolgopolov is taking the court for the first time since January, while the unseeded contingent in Marrakech consists of Jan-Lennard Struff, Andreas Seppi, Gilles Simon, and Joao Sousa, among others.
Ramos-Vinolas could be challenged in the week’s early stages by Struff and Dolgopolov, with Kohlschreiber in the second quarter of the bracket in addition to Sousa and Robin Haase. Gasquet, Simon, and Benoit Paire could be factors in French-heavy third section of the draw. Paire and Simon have to go head-to-head in round one, with the victory possibly to run into Gasquet in the quarters. Edmund, who has struggled since making a run to the semifinals of the Australian Open, could be seriously tested in his second match by either Seppi or Radu Albot.
Semifinal picks: Jan-Lennard Struff over Joao Sousa and Andreas Seppi over Benoit Paire
Final: Struff over Seppi
Topics: 10sballs, Atp, Grand Prix Hassan Ii, Houston, Marrakech, Sports, Tennis, U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship