Marseilles ATP Feb. 16
Top Players: Djokovic, Simon, Monfils, Tsonga, Berdych, Safin, Lopez
Underdog Pick: Safin (I know he’s the 7 seed, but he hasn’t won anything… not even a single ATP title in 4 years)
My Pick: Tsonga
Tsonga has had a hot start to the year winning Johannesburg two weeks ago and losing to Nadal 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4 in Brazil last week. That being said he has a tricky draw with the always underachieving Lopez and then Djoker on his half.
First round matches to watch:
Santoro vs. Benneteau: Both Frenchmen, 1-1 career records against each other splitting sets each time. If you haven’t had the chance to watch Santoro before he retires here shortly, do it! He is a rare breeed with a bunch of unique shots that you don’t get to see every day. Fabrice Forever!
Mathieu vs. Monfils: Tough draw for Monfils. Although most of you probably are more away of Monfils due to his achievements as of late, Mathieu is a solid player in his own right, and leads their head to head matchups 1-0. Not to mention they are countrymen with a 4 year age gap… Mathieu has to have a slight mental edge here even though I feel Monfils is the better player. I call Mathieu in 3.
Berdych vs. Youzhny: Head to head 4:2 in favor of Youzhny… who I think is going to send the 5 seed packing after a first round upset.
Lopez vs. Ljubicic: Lopez leads 3-2 head to head… winning the last two in a row with relative ease, however I’m going on a small limb here and calling a Ljubicic upset.. its hard to count a guy with 8 career ATP titles out, especially against an underachiving character with only 1!
Some good matches to come in the future rounds so keep an eye on this tournament (and not necessarily on the weak sister Buenos Aires)
For the Singles main draw, click here
