ATP Previews: Beijing, Delray Beach, Bucharest

Posted on September 13, 2004

Follow the cash for the best post-US Open event of the three this week -- at Beijing where the China Open features three former No. 1s in Carlos Moya, Juan Carlos Ferrrero, and Marat "Take the Money and Run" Safin. Also among the seeds are David Nalbandian, Rainer "Shine" Schuettler, crowd-favorite Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, Taylor Dent, and Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty.

The event has not been on the ATP calendar since 1997, when Jim Courier won the singles and Indians Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes were still talking to each other, capturing the doubles. The event was first held in 1993, with Michael Chang winning from 1993-95, and "Grinning" Greg Rusedski the title winner in 1996.

On court Monday are Nieminen vs. Garcia-Lopez, (4) Schuettler vs. Baccanello, and Lu vs. (WC)Zhu.

The event in Delray Beach this week could be a wash, literally, with the approach of Hurricane Ivan. The eight seeds are Vince Spadea, Mardy "Silver" Fish, Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, Xavier "X-Man" Malisse, "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, France's Cyril Saulnier, Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, and Radek Stepanek.

First round matches of interest are the (4) X-Man vs. "Grinning" Greg Rusedski, (5) Dr. Ivo vs. big-match player Paul Goldstein of the U.S., and (3) Baby Goran vs. defending champ Jan-Mike Gambill. Gambill (2003,'01) is the lone returning champ in the field. On court Monday are Gambill vs. (3) Baby Goran, (4) X-Man vs. Grinning Greg, Golmard vs. D.Norman, Goldstein vs. (5) Dr. Ivo, and (6) Saulnier vs. Carlsen.

The dirt-ballers return to the clay this week at Bucharest, where Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco, Florian "Oscar" Mayer, Al Costa, Igor Andreev, Nikolay Davydenko, David Ferrer, Filippo Volandri, and David Sanchez are the top seeds. Tough first-round matches include (3) A.Costa vs. Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, (8) Sanchez vs. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, and (5) Davydenko vs. Spanish grinder Felix Mantilla.

Other draw notables are "You Say" Potito Starace, former No. 2 Alex Corretja, Argentine comer Juan "The Principality" Monaco, and Arnaud Clement. Returning champs in the field are Sanchez (2003) and Ferrer (2002). On court Monday are (3) Gasquet vs. Apostu-Efremov, (3) A.Costa vs. Mathieu, Corretja vs. O.Hernandez in an all-Spanish, "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter vs. (8) Sanchez, (5) Davydenko vs. Mantilla, Vliegen vs. (4) Andreev, and Di Pasquale vs. Elsner.