Del Potro, Raonic Feature at 3 ATP Events Next Week; Previews

TEB BNP PARIBAS ISTANBUL OPEN
Istanbul, Turkey; surface: clay
ADHEREL
Seeds: Milos Raonic, Marin Cilic, Diego Schwartzman, Paolo Lorenzi, Viktor Troicki, Bernard Tomic, Borna Coric, Steve Darcis

Floaters: Marcos Baghdatis, Dudi “Where’s My Car?” Sela

Notes: Two Top 10ers make Istanbul the top event this week…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Matches to watch for in the 1st rd. include (5) Troicki vs. the big-match Baghdatis, and (8) Darcis vs. Sela to see who can hit their way out of that paper bag…Wildcards went to Cilic and Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics and Turkey’s Cem Ilkel…Schwartzman won the title last year, handing Grigor Dimitrov a bagel in the third set…2015 winner Roger Federer? Not in attendance.

BMW OPEN BY FWU
Munich, Germany; surface: clay

Seeds: Gael Monfils, Roberto Bautista Agut, Alexander Zverev, Fabio Fognini, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Mischa Zverev, Jan-Lennard “The Right” Struff, Thomaz Bellucci

Floaters: Dustin Brown, Tommy Haas

Notes: No Top 15 players in the field…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Not a lot of second-tier talent outside the seeds, but (6) M.Zverev starts against Brown in a race to the net, and the former world No. 2 Haas could work his way to the second round against (7) Struff…Wildcards were awarded to Germans Max Marterer and Daniel Masur, and Norway’s Casper Ruud…Pulling out of the field were Adrian Mannarino, Donald Young and German Florian Mayer…Kohlschreiber defended his home turf in last year’s final, outlasting Dominic Thiem 7-6 in the third…Former champs in the field are Kohlschreiber (2016,’12,’07), Martin Klizan (2014), and Haas (2013).

MILLLENNIUM ESTORIL OPEN
Estoril, Portugal; surface: clay

Seeds: Pablo Carreno Busta, Richard Gasquet, Gilles Muller, David Ferrer, Juan Martin del Potro, Joao Sousa, Kyle Edmund, Benoit Paire

Floaters: Nicolas Almagro, Kevin Anderson

Notes: Only one Top 20 player in the field, but a lot of other talent including the US Open winner Del Potro and the French Open finalist Ferrer…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Potential tough starts for (8) Paire (coming after a long run last week) vs. Almagro, and Anderson waiting for (7) Edmund 2nd rd…Wildcards went to Ferrer and Portugal’s Frederico Ferreira Silva and Pedro Sousa…The slew of players pulling from the event were Federico Delbonis, Nick Kyrgios, Daniil Medvedev, Juan Monaco, Yoshihito Nishioka, and Albert Ramos Vinolas…Kyrgios withdrew due to a death in the family…Almagro beat Carreno Busta in last year’s all-Spanish final…Former champs in the field are Almagro (2016) and Gasquet (2015).

 

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