Haas Leads Zagreb; ATP Previews This Week

OPEN SUD DE FRANCE
Montpellier, France
Surface: indoor hard
ADHEREL
Seeds: Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon, Jerzy Janowicz, Dmitry Tursunov, Gael Monfils, Jarkko Nieminen, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Julien Benneteau

Floaters: Paul-Henri Mathieu, Nicolas Mahut, Nikolay Davydenko, Michael Llodra

Notes: Five of eight seeds French…Tough starts for (1) Gasquet after a bye against either countryman Mathieu or Mahut, (8) Benneteau vs. Davydenko, and (2) Simon vs. his net-crushing countryman Llodra…Wildcards went to Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Mathieu and Simon…Pulling from the event were Benoît Paire (left patellar tendon) and Stan Wawrinka…Seeds Janowicz and Tursunov make their tournament debuts…Gasquet beat Paire in the all-French final last year…Returning champs in the field are Gasquet (2013, ’06), Monfils (2010), and Mathieu (2002)…Gasquet trying to match Pete Sampras (1992-93) as the only back-to-back winner in Montpellier.

PBZ ZAGREB INDOORS
Zagreb, Croatia
Surface: indoor hard

Seeds: Tommy Haas, Mikhail Youzhny, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Ivan Dodig, Marin Cilic, Lukas Rosol, Radek “The Worm” Stepanek, Igor Sijsling

Floaters: “Dr.” Ivo Karlovic

Notes: (4) Dodig after a bye could meet Dr. Ivo…Wildcards went to Croats Borna Coric, Mate Delic and Ante Pavic…Lots of pulls from the event including Grigor Dimitrov, Feliciano Lopez, Florian Mayer, Jurgen “Tuna” Melzer (shoulder), Milos Raonic (leg), and Janko Tipsarevic (achillar tendon)…Cilic beat Melzer in last year’s final…Returning former champs in the field are Cilic (2013, ’10-09), Youzhny (2012), Dodig (2011) and Stakhovsky (2008).

ROYAL GUARD OPEN CHILE
Vina del Mar, Chile
Surface: clay

Seeds: Fabio Fognini, Tommy Robredo, Nicolas Almagro, Marcel Granollers, Jeremy Chardy, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Guillermo “G-Lo” Garcia-Lopez, Federico Delbonis

Floaters: none

Notes: Rough field with not a lot of talent outside the seeds…Wildcards went to Alexandr Dolgopolov, and Chile’s Christian Garin and Gonzalo Lama…Al Montanes pulled from the event…The tournament is the beginning of a four-tournament clay swing through Latin America…Seeds Almagro and G-Lo have losing career records at the event…Unseeded Horacio Zeballos is the defending champ, last year beating Rafael Nadal in the final…Returning champs in the field are Zeballos (2013) and Robredo (2011).