Previews: Bratislava, Cancun, Champaign, Lima, Yokohama
Posted by Nathii on November 15 2009 14:13:57
Hurry with jumping on the challenger tour bandwagon when the ATP season is nearly over! Meet Lucho Horna in Lima, check out Lukas Lacko in Bratislava, admire Giovanni Lapentti in Cancun, support Taylor Dent's cause in Champaign and hear Alexandre Kudryavtsev breaking racquets in Yokohama!
Extended News
Bratislava
Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
Prize Money: €106.5K+H
Surface: Indoor Hard
2008 Champion: Jan Hernych (CZE)
Bratislava is the annual last big challenger of the season together with Helsinki. This year the entry list doesn't look as impressive as it happened in the past, for example because Łukasz Kubot had to withdraw and play WTF doubles in London and Xavier Malisse received a suspension for avoiding being found for the doping control. The nominally best indoors Slovakian player Karol Beck decided to pass on as well, but no big loss at this one, since last week Beck lost to Uladzimir Ignatik in the first round. So, who are the heroes? Certainly the match between Jarkko Nieminen and Andrey Golubev looks like a blockbuster as the first one carries on the shape from Jersey while the other one from Astana. Small edge to Nieminen, who is more experience and should make our beloved ballbasher bash a few metres out. The last two impressive weeks of Dustin Brown make him look confident against Lukas Rosol, but how about the fatigue factor? In the battle of two wild cards, maybe finally a win for Jerzy Janowicz? The young Pole takes on Kamil Capkovic who's been losing literally everything these days. Janowicz experienced a tough three-setter versus Niels Desein last week in Aachen. Denis Istomin from Uzbekistan is the top seed and of course, one of the top favourites. It'll be a test also for the second seed Lukas Lacko - time to step up in his own country! He should really beat Adrian Ungur in the first round and in the second most likely he'll meet Tobias Kamke. On behalf of the Polish tennis supporters I hoped Michał Przysiężny could qualify and spread some mess, but he lost to Juho Paukku in third set tie-break. Oh well, Polish tennis - oldie but goodie.
Breaking news - Przysiężny replaces Jan Hajek in the draw and will face Michael Lammer. Not impossible to win!
Cancun
Location: Cancun, Mexico
Prize Money: $35K+H
Surface: Clay
2008 Champion: Grega Zemlja (SLO)
Tennis? Or holiday??? That's the question! Second seeded Blaz Kavcic came for the holiday! After performing on clay in South America he went to the indoors courts of Europe to come back again on clay in Mexico. The draw was indulgent for him as Marcel Felder is his first opponent and dare I say it, not the last. Top seeded Rui Machado got Giovanni Lapentti in the first round. Poor Ecuadorian isn't lucky with the early rivals these weeks. Grega Zemlja appeared to defend his crown but he'll fail most likely. There are the better players than him in the draw. Maybe it's the chance for Nicolas Massu? And maybe Andre Begemann will take us a step further? The German ex college player is my dark horse of the competition.
Champaign
Location: Champaign, Illinois, USA
Prize Money: $50K
Surface: Indoor Hard
2008 Champion: Kevin Anderson (RSA)
Nobody will characterize the USTA challengers better than Knoxville winner from last week, Taylor Dent. "This is kind of what the mainstream of tennis doesn't understand: These guys can all play. What separates the guys playing in these Challengers from guys even in the top 20 and top 30 is just consistency," Dent said for http://www.govolsxtra.com . He is one of the favourites of this tournament as well, but will the consistency help? Ryan Sweeting is my dark horse of the event, and we'll be also anxious to find out if Ryan Harrison counts another disappointing loss. Maybe not against a qualifier, but in second round against most likely title holder Kevin Anderson? Rajeev Ram flies all the way from Aachen and is the second seed. Fatigue may play a role if he's scheduled early. Kevin Kim and Jesse Levine are also among the favourites.
Lima
Location: Lima, Peru
Money Prize: $50K+H
Surface: Clay
2008 Champion: Martin Vassallo Arguello (ARG)
Another tournament of the fascinating South American swing. Eduardo Schwank is the main favourite to win the tournament, and he is also the top seed. It's difficult to find someone to give him a hard time - at least until the semifinal. Based on the last weeks' results Joao Souza appears as another contender, while on the other part of the draw Luis Horna is up for a surprise in his home country. The crowd will enjoy to see Gaston Gaudio, who first plays a qualifier. At the very botton second seeded Julio Silva probably beats another former prime Mariano Zabaleta, while upcoming Guido Pella has a decent shot against Carlos Berlocq. ATP listed Andres Dellatorre as inactive but the Argentinian suddenly appeared in the main draw, which suggests a sign of activity. Brian Dabul was the lucky one to draw him.
Yokohama
Location: Yokohama, Japan
Money Prize: $35K+H
Surface: Outdoor Hard
2008 Champion: Hyung-Taik Lee
With Lee on the edge of his farewell tour we must find ourselves a new top favourite of any Far East tournaments we come across. Maybe let's try with top seeded Japanese Go Soeda. He faces Alexey Kedriouk in the first round and is an obvious favourite. Second seeded Kyu Tae Im is off shape and will lose to the first serious player he encounters (not sure if jetlagged Nikola Mektic is one of these... maybe?). We keep eyes open at Dieter Kindlmann. Philipp Oswald also may perform well, and of course we follow two ex junior best players - Uladzimir Ignatik from Belarus and Tsung-Hua Yang from Taipei. The first one has an easier draw (Japanese Wild Card) than Yang, who drew Jesse Huta-Galung, who after his satisfying futures tour is looking for a step forward and he came to the right place to make it.
Nathii