Del Potro, Kirilenko Among Stars at Estoril; ATP/WTA Previews

Most of the big dogs on the men’s and women’s tours take the week off, but three events on the men’s side and two on the women’s, including the Estoril Open dual-gender event, make for a lot of tennis.
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Estoril Open
Estoril, Portugal; Surface: red clay

Men’s Seeds: Juan Martin Del Potro, Richard Gasquet, Stan Wawrinka, Albert Ramos, Denis Istomin, Robin Haase, Al Montanes, Flavio Cipolla

Women’s Seeds: Roberta Vinci, Maria Kirilenko, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Petra Cetkovska, Jie Zheng, Kaia Kanepi, Nadia Petrova, Polona Hercog

Men’s Floaters: Paul-Henri Mathieu

Women’s Floaters: Tamira Paszek, Sorana Cirstea

Men’s Notes: Del Potro is the defending champ, beat Fernando “Hot Sauce” Verdasco in last year’s final; seeds making debuts at the event are Wawrinka, Ramos, Istomin and Haase; (5) Istomin a tough opener against the French veteran Mathieu; returning champs in the field are Del Potro (2011) and Montanes (2010-09).

Women’s Notes: (9) Hercog tough opener against Paszek; Medina Garrigues beat Kristina Barrois in last year’s final; returning champions in the field are Medina Garrigues (2011), Kirilenko (2008) and Zheng (2006).

BMW Open
Munich, Germany; Surface: red clay

Seeds: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Feliciano “F-Lo” Lopez, Marin Cilic, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Bernard Tomic, Mikhail Youzhny, Nikolay Davydenko, Marcos Baghdatis

Floaters: (WC) Tommy Haas, Ernests Gulbis, Xavier “X-Man” Malisse, Olivier Rochus

Notes: (1) Tsonga to open against a German after (WC) Haas and Michael Berrer square off; other openers of interest are X-Man vs. Gulbis to face (4) Kohlschreiber, and (5) Tomic vs. the former champ Rochus; Davydenko the defending champ, beating Florian Mayer in last year’s final; seeds Tsonga, F-Lo and Tomic make debuts at event; former champs in the field are Davydenko (2011,’04), Youzhny, (2010), Kohlscreiber (2007), and Rochus (2006).

Serbia Open 2012
Belgrade, Serbia; Surface: red clay

Seeds: Pablo Andujar, Andreas Seppi, Jarkko Nieminen, David Nalbandian, Lukasz Kubot, Fabio Fognini, Ryan Harrison, Gilles Muller

Floaters: none

Notes: Rough-looking event now that world No. 1 Novak Djokovic is skipping to attend to family matters after the death of his grandfather; seeds making debuts are the top-seeded Andujar, Nieminen, Nalbandian, Harrison and Muller; Marko Djokovic gets the wildcard and opens against Italian Filippo Volandri; no returning champs at the event that enters its fourth year on tour.

Budapest Grand Prix
Budapest, Hungary; Surface: red clay

Seeds: Sara Errani, Ksenia Pervak, Tsvetana Pironkova, Klara Zakopalova, Marina Erakovic, Petra Martic, Shahar Peer, Irina-Camelia Begu

Floaters: Aleksandra Wozniak, Vera Dushevina

Notes: Tough starts include (7) Peer vs. the Canadian Wozniak, and (2) Pervak vs. the Russian Dushevina; pulling from the field were Mar�a Jose Mart�nez Sanchez and Lucie Safarova; in last year’s final Roberta Vinci defeated Begu; top-seeded Errani has already swept the singles and doubles at an event twice this year; no former champs in the field.

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