Venus Williams in Turkey; WTA/ATP Previews This Week
TEB BNP PARIBAS ISTANBUL CUP
Istanbul, Turkey; Surface: hard
ADHEREL
Seeds: Venus Williams, Elina Svitolina, Jelena Jankovic, Alize Cornet, Camila Giorgi, Daria Gavrilova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Tsvetana Pironkova
Floaters: Mona Barthel, Yanina Wickmayer, Dominika Cibulkova, Magdalena Rybarikova
Notes: Tough starts for (1) Venus in the 2nd rd. vs. the Bastad runner-up Barthel, (4) Cornet vs. Wickmayer, (5) Giorgi vs. Cibulkova, and (2) Svitolina vs. Rybarikova…Veterans Daniela Hantuchova and Francesca Schiavone also floating around…Wildcards went to Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay and Ipek Soylu, and the No. 4 seed Cornet…Pulling from the event were Belinda Bencic, Alexandra Dulgheru, Kristina Mladenovic, Monica Niculescu and Flavia Pennetta…Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki beat No. 2 Roberta Vinci in last year’s final…Pavlyuchenkova (2010) is the lone returning former champ in the field.
NURNBERGER GASTEIN LADIES 2015
Bad Gastein, Austria; Surface: red clay
Seeds: Sara Errani, Samantha Stosur, Karin Knapp, Carina Witthoeft, Lucie Hradecka, Julia Goerges, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Katerina Siniakova
Floaters: (WC) Tamira Paszek, Johanna Larsson, Klara Koukalova
Notes: Rough field for onlookers, with only one Top 20 player in the No. 20 Errani…Potential tough starts for (3) Knapp vs. (WC) Paszek, and the struggling (2) Stosur in the 2nd rd. vs. Koukalova…Wildcards were awarded to Austrians Barbara Haas, Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, and Paszek…Pulling from the tournament were Kaia Kanepi, Tatjana Maria, Christina McHale, Yulia Putintseva, and Tereza Smitkova…In last year’s final Andrea Petkovic defeated Shelby Rogers…Goerges (2010) is the lone former champ in the field.
SKISTAR SWEDISH OPEN
Bastad, Sweden; Surface: red clay
Seeds: David Goffin, Tommy Robredo, Pablo Cuevas, Juan Monaco, Fernando Verdasco, Thomaz Bellucci, Jeremy Chardy, Jerzy Janowicz
Floaters: Nicolas Almagro, Ernests Gulbis
Notes: Tough start for (5) Verdasco against his Spanish countryman Almagro…Wildcards are all-Swedish in Markus Eriksson, Christian Lindell and Elias Ymer…Pulling from the event was top seed David Ferrer and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez…In the 2014 final Pablo Cuevas defeated Joao Sousa…Former champs in the field are Cuevas (2014), Almagro (2010), and Robredo (2008,’06).
KONZUM CROATIA OPEN UMAG
Umag, Croatia; Surface: red clay
Seeds: Gael Monfils, Roberto Bautista Agut, Andreas Seppi, Dominic Thiem, Fabio Fognini, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Borna Coric, Martin Klizan
Floaters: Mikhail Youzhny, Marcel Granollers
Notes: Not a lot of floating talent in Umag but (1) Monfils after a bye will likely start against the Russian veteran Youzhny, and the young (7) Coric starts against the Spanish grinder Granollers…Wildcards were awarded to Croatians Toni Androic and Mate Delic, and Russian Andrey Rublev…Pablo Cuevas beat Tommy Robredo in last year’s final…No past champions are in the field.
CLARO OPEN COLOMBIA
Bogota, Colombia; Surface: hard
Seeds: Ivo Karlovic, Bernard Tomic, Adrian Mannarino, V�ctor Estrella Burgos, Marcos Baghdatis, Sam Groth, Malek Jaziri, James Ward
Floaters: none
Notes: An amazingly weak-tea field, and weak seeds with Malek Jaziri and James Ward sneaking in…Tomic will enjoy the media questions regarding his Weekend at Bernie’s in a Miami jail after being arrested for disturbing the peace and giving police a hard time…Wildcards went to Colombians Nicolas Barrientos and Daniel Elahi Galan, and Czech Radek “The Worm” Stepanek…Pulling from the event were Vasek Pospisil and James Duckworth…Former champs in the field are Tomic (2014) and Karlovic (2013).
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