Isner Kicks Off US Open Series in Atlanta: ATP/WTA Previews

BB&T Atlanta Open
Atlanta, Ga., USA; Surface: hard

Seeds: John Isner, Kevin Anderson, Gael Monfils, Vasek Pospisil, Denis Istomin, Yen-Hsun Lu, Marinko Matosevic, Sam Querrey
ADHEREL
Floaters: (WC) Robby Ginepri, Jack Sock, Steve Johnson

Notes: Radek “The Worm” Stepanek withdraws with a hamstring injury, allowing Querrey to sneak into the seedings…The kickoff event for the 2014 US Open Series…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Potential tough starts for (1) Isner vs. American compatriot (WC) Ginepri (if Ginepri can get by the veteran Sergiy Stakhovsky in his opener), (3) Monfils vs. the Wimbledon doubles champ Sock, and (9) Querrey vs. Johnson in another all-American…Wild cards went to Americans Ginepri, Ryan Harrison and Nathan Pasha…Wimbledon winners Sock and Vasek Pospisil are the top seeds in the doubles with no Bryan brothers in the draw…Other notable pulls from the event were Richard Gasquet, Lleyton Hewitt, Ivo Karlovic, American Bradley Klahn and Dmitry Tursunov…Isner (2013) is the lone returning former champ in the field.

Credit Agricole Suisse Open
Gstaad, Switzerland; Surface: clay

Seeds: Mikhail Youzhny, Marcel Granollers, Guillermo “G-Lo” Garcia-Lopez, Fernando Verdasco, Federico Delbonis, Gilles Simon, Robin Haase, Dominic Thiem

Floaters: Juan Monaco, Victor Hanescu, Dustin Brown, (WC) Viktor Troicki

Notes: Youzhny the only Top 20 player in the field…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Tough starts for (3) G-Lo vs. Monaco or Hanescu, (5) Delbonis vs. the hot-handed Brown, and (8) Thiem vs. the back-from-suspension (WC) Troicki…In addition to Troicki, wildcards went to Swiss Henri Laaksonen and Yann Marti…Notable withdrawals from the event were homecountry hero Stan Wawrinka, Nicolas Almagro and Feliciano Lopez…Youzhny beat Haase in last year’s final…Returning champions in the field are Youzhny (2013), Thomaz Bellucci (2012,’09), Granollers (2011), and Hanescu (2008).

Vegeta Croatia Open
Umag, Croatia; Surface: clay

Seeds: Fabio Fognini, Tommy Robredo, Marin Cilic, Joao Sousa, Lukas Rosol, Andreas Seppi, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Carlos Berlocq

Floaters: Al Montanes

Notes: Two Top 20 players but little depth in the Umag field…Robredo beat Fognini in the 2013 final…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…(1) Fognini with a possible challenge in his opener against the veteran Montanes…Wildcards were awarded to Croats Borna Coric, Mate Delic, Ante Pavic…Pulling from the event were Alexandr Dolgopolov, Santiago Giraldo, Jurgen Melzer, and German Open winner Leonardo Mayer…Former champs in the field are Robredo (2013) and Cilic (2012).

Baku Cup
Baku, Azerbaijan; Surface: hard

Seeds: Sorana Cirstea, Elina Svitolina, Magdalena Rybarikova, Kurumi Nara, Bojana Jovanovski, Yvonne Meusburger, Heather Watson, Jana Cepelova

Floaters: Shahar Peer, Donna Vekic, Francesca Schiavone

Notes: No Top 25 players in the field…Two challenging openers for seeds with (6) Meusberger vs. Peer and (4) Nara vs. the Grand Slam champ Schiavone…Wild cards went to Russian Ksenia Gaydarzhi, Tunisian Ons Jabeur, and Azerbaijan’s Nazrin Jafarova…Pulling from the event were Swedish Open winner Mona Barthel, Klara Koukalova, and Zhang Shuai…Svitlona beat Peer in last year’s final…Returning champs in the field are Svitlona (2013) and Jovanovski (2012).