Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The Week Ahead...

Four ATP tournaments began yesterday: three clay court events (seriously?!) and the high profile Indianapolis Us Olympus US Open series event.The Austrian Open in Kitzbühel is an event stocked with clay court specialists who are desperately avoiding the American hard court season. The Austrian Open is still a relatively big event and features a newly reconditioned Top 40 Rainer Schuettler as the no. 2 seed. Andreas Seppi is the number one. Notable challengers for the title include teenage Stuttgart winner, Juan Martin Del Potro and unseeded Guillermo Coria. I think Coria will be able to beat Seppi, otherwise the Argentinian will never come close to regaining his old form. In Umag look for number one seed Verdasco to make the final and either Canas or home town favorite Ivan Ljubicic. And in yet another clay tournament in the Netherlands, Jose Acasuso will proabaly take the title.

In Indianapolis, the first US Open series Men's event, American Jame Blake is the number one seed and my favorite to capture the title. Blake has always been most comfortable on hard courts and has had a good year. Nevertheless, Blake lost two tournaments this year to unranked, surprise finalists so he could struggle in clutch matches. He still has one of the best games for hard court, though, and if he's confident he's hard to stop. Blake's section has some tricky player, Santoro and last year's winner, Tursenov, but he should still get through those rather easily. On the opposite side of the draw, barring some crazy new injury, Tommy Haas should make the final, if he can overcome Querrey, who Haas has listed as one of his least favorite opponents to play.

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