DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Dubai, U.A.E.; Surface: hard
Seeds: Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin Del Potro, Tomas Berdych, Roger Federer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Mikhail Youzhny, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Dmitry Tursunov
Floaters: Radek “The Worm” Stepanek, Igor Sijsling
Notes: The defending champ Djokovic has won four Dubai titles (four of last five years) while Federer has won five…Djokovic beat Berdych in last year’s final…Not a lot of floating talent, with potential second round matches looming in (4) Federer vs. The Worm and (2) Del Potro vs. the Dutch riser Sijsling…Potential semifinals are (1) Djokovic vs. (4) Federer and (2) Del Potro vs. either (3) Berdych or (5) Tsonga…The unusual wildcard distribution went to India’s Somdev Devvarman, Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri, and Brit James Ward…Former champs in the field are Djokovic (2013,’11-09) and Federer (2012,’07,’05-03).
BRASIL OPEN
Sao Paulo, Brazil; Surface: clay
Seeds: Tommy Haas, Nicolas Almagro, Marcel Granollers, Juan Monaco, Robin Haase, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Leonardo Mayer, Santiago Giraldo
Floaters: (WC) Thomaz Bellucci, (WC) Joao Souza
Notes: Amazingly only two of the eight seeds have winning records in Sao Paulo, Almagro and Mayer, while Haas and Haase make their career debuts…Potential tough early starts for some seeds against some Brazil wildcard homies, with (8) Giraldo starting against (WC) Bellucci, and (5) Haase vs. (WC) Souza…Brazil’s Guilherme Clezar also received a wildcard…No return of Rafael Nadal, who won the event last year…Almagro (2012,’11,’08) is the lone former champ in the field.
ABIERTO MEXICANO TELCEL
Acapulco, Mexico; Surface: hard
No draw info as of 4 p.m. ET Sunday
BRASIL TENNIS CUP
Florianopolis, Brazil; Surface: hard
Seeds: Carla Suarez Navarro, Garbine Muguruza, Klara Zakopalova, Francesca Schiavone, Monica Niculescu, Alexandra Cadantu, Maria Teresa Torro Flor, Paula Ormaechea
Floaters: Donna Vekic, (SE) Teliana Pereira, Vania King
Notes: The 2nd edition of the tournament sees no Top 15-ranked seeds…Wildcards went to Brazil’s Gabriela Ce, Paula Cristina Goncalves and Beatriz Haddad Maia, and Brazil’s Teliana Pereira got in as a special exempt via her semifinal effort at the WTA Rio event…Possible tough starts include (3) Zakopalova vs. the rising Croat Vekic, (7) Torro-Flor vs. Pereira who she struggled to beat in their only career meeting, and (2) Muguruza vs. the scrappy King…Niculescu is the lone former champ in the field, last year in the tournament’s WTA calendar debut defeating Russian Olga Puchkova in three sets.
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