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This week we have three tournaments in Vienna, Stockholm, and Moscow. We need eight players for our fantasy team so let’s pick three players from Vienna and Stockholm and two from Moscow.
Vienna draw (indoor hard, first prize: $213,846)
Stockholm draw (indoor hard, first prize: $177,692)
Moscow draw (indoor hard, $171,000)
The top half of the draw in Vienna is packed. We have a finalist, semifinalist, and two quarterfinalists from last year’s event. Stanislas Wawrinka is the top seed and he was the finalist. Gilles Simon is his main competition in the first quarter and Simon has a semifinal and a quarterfinal on indoor hard court this year. This is a tough pick but I’m going with Wawrinka because I’ve used up all my Simon picks for the year.
The second quarter is especially packed. Ivan Ljubicic and Feliciano Lopez both reached the quarterfinals last year. Lopez has three quarterfinals and a title here in the past five years, but he’s 0-4 on indoor hard court this year and he’s now lost in the first round of his last five events. Ljubicic just missed 10 weeks with a back injury and lost in the first round at Metz this week. Juan Carlos Ferrero reached the semifinals last year and Ivo Karlovic and Tommy Robredo are also in this quarter. However, I’m picking Jurgen Melzer because he’s 2-0 over Ljubicic, beat Ferrero here in 2006, is 4-0 over Karlovic, and I’ve used up all my Robredo picks.
Juan Martin Del Potro is in the next quarter and it’s hard not to pick him because he’s on such a roll. But I want to save him for Madrid and Paris which pay a lot more money. And that leaves us picking between Fernando Verdasco, Andreas Seppi, and Guillermo Canas because they can’t meet up with Del Potro till the quarterfinals. Verdasco reached the semifinals in Bangkok and the final in St. Petersburg last fall, but he hasn’t played much indoors this year. Canas just lost in the first round at Metz as did Seppi who lost to 181st ranked Adrian Mannarino. Seppi did get to the semifinals here last year but Verdasco because has a career 4-0 record over Seppi so he should come out of this quarter.
Fernando Gonzalez is the second seed and he reached the quarterfinals here last year, but I’m saving him for Madrid where he’s never finished lower than the quarterfinals in three tries. Ernests Gulbis could beat Gonzalez but I’m not counting on it. Radek Stepanek is now 10-2 on indoor hard court and he reached the semifinals at Metz this week. Gael Monfils got to the semifinals in Bangkok but Stepanek is much more consistent indoors so Stepanek it is.
I need three players from Vienna and Del Potro is likely to beat Verdasco, so I’m going with Wawrinka, Melzer, and Stepanek.
David Nalbandian is the top seed in Stockholm. Will we see another fall run for Nalbandian like last year when he won both year-end indoor Masters titles? The pattern is set. He got to the third round at the US Open last year just as he did this year, and his record on clay and hard court is actually much better this year. And he’s 2-0 over Nicolas Mahut and Albert Montanes, two other players in this top quarter. But Thomas Johansson beat him in their only meeting indoors and Johansson also reached the final here last year so I’m picking Johansson in this quarter. Keep at least one Nalbandian pick if you have it. He’s finished in the semifinals or better the past four years in Madrid
It’s hard to find a player in the second quarter. Jarkko Nieminen and Arnaud Clement both reached the quarterfinals here last year but they both have losing records indoors this year. Jose Acasuso has one victory on indoor hard court in the past three years. Thomaz Bellucci has never won a match on indoor hard court. I’m going with Nieminen in this quarter because he’s still ranked number 33 while Clement has slipped down to number 88.
Robing Soderling is 12-4 on indoor hard court this year and he reached the quarterfinals at Bangkok so he’s the clear pick in the third quarter.
Marcel Granollers is the eighth seed here but he’s never won a match on indoor hard court. Kei Nishikori isn’t eligible because he wasn’t ranked in the top 100 at the beginning of the fantasy season. Steve Darcis won the title in Memphis this year which accounts for all five of his indoor hard court wins. Mario Ancic lost in the first round at Metz, but he’s 7-2 on indoor hard court this year and he reached the quarterfinals here last year. Ancic beat Darcis in their only meeting on grass, which may not mean much, but I’m going with experience and picking Ancic.
I need three players from Stockholm and the second quarter is weak, so I’m going with Johansson, Soderling, and Ancic.
I’m only picking two players from Moscow so I’ll pick the top and bottom half of the draw.
Nikolay Davydenko is the top seed in Moscow and I saved him for this event because he’s won it three out of the last four years. I’m a bit concerned about his first round opponent, Florent Serra, because Serra reached the quarterfinals here last year, but Serra has a losing record indoors.
Janko Tipsarevic is in the second quarter of the draw as are Mikhail Youzhny and Mikhail Zverev. Tipsarevic reached the semifinals here last year, and he beat Youzhny in Rotterdam this year. Zverev reached the quarterfinals at Rotterdam as a qualifier but Tipsarevic just beat him at Zagreb. Tipsarevic should come out of this quarter.
Davydenko beat Tipsarevic here last year so Davydenko is my pick for the top half of the draw.
Michael Llodra won the title in Rotterdam but that’s the only time he’s gone past the second round indoors this year and that includes a challenger he entered a few weeks ago. Fabrice Santoro is not having a good year indoors. Victor Hanescu beat Ivan Ljubicic in Metz last week but Hanescu is more of a clay court specialist. That leaves us with Paul-Henri Mathieu, especially as he reached the final here last year.
Dmitri Tursunov won his last four matches over Igor Kunitsyn and he beat Robby Ginepri in their only meeting indoors. Lu Yen-Hsun reached the quarterfinals at San Jose this year but Igor Andreev has two quarterfinals and title in four trips to Moscow and he has a 5-1 record over Tursunov. If you have Andreev, use him. I used him up in the clay court season.
I’m expecting Andreev to pick off Tursunov so I’m picking Mathieu for the bottom half of the draw
Picks
My picks this week are Warinka, Melzer, Stepanek, Johansson, Soderling, Ancic, Davydenko, and Mathieu.
Happy fantasies!