25
Apr
ATP - Estoril Open Preview
The 2011 Estoril Open in Portugal is certainly up for grabs and who knows maybe a hometown Portuguese will go far.
Hoping to go far are the seeded players, four of which will receive first-round byes. Those four (1) Robin Soderling of Sweden, (2) Fernando Verdasco of Spain, (3) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France and (4) Gilles Simon of France are expected to at least make the third round in Estoril.
Then again Soderling was sent out early by upstart Croat Ivan Dodig in Barcelona last week on the clay. The Swede was shown the exit 6-2, 6-4 in the second round rollowing a bye. It wound up not being as big of a surprise with Dodig skating through to the semifinals until losing to the King of Clay and No. 1 player in the world Rafael Nadal of Spain.
There are several darkhorses in Estoril with seeded players like (5) Milos Raonic of Canada and (8) Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina capable of advancing just with the serve.
Soderling could see del Potro in the third round if he is able to beat a Frenchman and the Argentina is able to get through a qualifier and fellow Spanish speaking player. Head-to-head, the Swede trails 4-1 including being destroyed 6-3, 6-2 in the Miami Masters in March.
Another juicy matchup possibly down the road in the third round is Simon versus Raonic who have never met. Opposite playing styles calls for the lightweight and heavyweight to battle. No one has a smoother backhand than the Frenchman who will need that shot this week to get through to a third-round clash with the big-serving Canadian. A tricky Argentine Carlos Berlocq or Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver will have something to say about that.
As for the Canadian who uncorks the serve in the 140 MPH range, Raonic almost always has the upperhand from the start of points on his serve. His biggest problem last week on the clay was also Dodig who won't be playing in Estoril. Instead the Canadian will have to navigate veteran Russian Igor Andreev and a Portuguese wildcard before a possible dream matchup with Simon.
However, both Simon and Raonic are also outstanding defenders and perhaps who is able to defend the best this week in Portugal will be pointing to the sky at the end with a clay-court championship. Let the craziness ensue.
Safe are the top four seeds, but not safe are seeds 5 through 8. South African (7) Kevin Anderson looks on paper to be the best bet to be upset in the first round against Thiemmo de Bakker of the Netherlands. It's fine if you don't believe me. De Bakker and Anderson have never met so time will tell whether I made the right or wrong prediction in what should be a very interesting tournament in Portugal.
Without two-time champion Albert Montanes of Spain here, (2) Fernando Verdasco (the No. 12 player in the world is 9-8 this year) stands the best chance for a Spaniard to reach the final stage again in 2011. However, Verdasco's path to the championship round may start with Portuguese Frederico Gil who plays a qualifier in the first round. I like Gil to win in the first round and to knock off the highest-seeded Spaniard in Estoril.
Hoping to go far are the seeded players, four of which will receive first-round byes. Those four (1) Robin Soderling of Sweden, (2) Fernando Verdasco of Spain, (3) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France and (4) Gilles Simon of France are expected to at least make the third round in Estoril.
Then again Soderling was sent out early by upstart Croat Ivan Dodig in Barcelona last week on the clay. The Swede was shown the exit 6-2, 6-4 in the second round rollowing a bye. It wound up not being as big of a surprise with Dodig skating through to the semifinals until losing to the King of Clay and No. 1 player in the world Rafael Nadal of Spain.
There are several darkhorses in Estoril with seeded players like (5) Milos Raonic of Canada and (8) Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina capable of advancing just with the serve.
Soderling could see del Potro in the third round if he is able to beat a Frenchman and the Argentina is able to get through a qualifier and fellow Spanish speaking player. Head-to-head, the Swede trails 4-1 including being destroyed 6-3, 6-2 in the Miami Masters in March.
Another juicy matchup possibly down the road in the third round is Simon versus Raonic who have never met. Opposite playing styles calls for the lightweight and heavyweight to battle. No one has a smoother backhand than the Frenchman who will need that shot this week to get through to a third-round clash with the big-serving Canadian. A tricky Argentine Carlos Berlocq or Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver will have something to say about that.
As for the Canadian who uncorks the serve in the 140 MPH range, Raonic almost always has the upperhand from the start of points on his serve. His biggest problem last week on the clay was also Dodig who won't be playing in Estoril. Instead the Canadian will have to navigate veteran Russian Igor Andreev and a Portuguese wildcard before a possible dream matchup with Simon.
However, both Simon and Raonic are also outstanding defenders and perhaps who is able to defend the best this week in Portugal will be pointing to the sky at the end with a clay-court championship. Let the craziness ensue.
Safe are the top four seeds, but not safe are seeds 5 through 8. South African (7) Kevin Anderson looks on paper to be the best bet to be upset in the first round against Thiemmo de Bakker of the Netherlands. It's fine if you don't believe me. De Bakker and Anderson have never met so time will tell whether I made the right or wrong prediction in what should be a very interesting tournament in Portugal.
Without two-time champion Albert Montanes of Spain here, (2) Fernando Verdasco (the No. 12 player in the world is 9-8 this year) stands the best chance for a Spaniard to reach the final stage again in 2011. However, Verdasco's path to the championship round may start with Portuguese Frederico Gil who plays a qualifier in the first round. I like Gil to win in the first round and to knock off the highest-seeded Spaniard in Estoril.
Validates to