Scouting Report: Ready To Rumble In Rio

Rio Headlines Week #7: The busiest month of the season continues with three tournaments, highlighted by the 500 level event in Rio de Janeiro returning for the fourth year. World No. 5 Kei Nishikori and No. 8 Dominic Thiem headline an outstanding field in Rio. In Marseille, the top two seeds are the top two Frenchmen, No. 10 Gael Monfils and No. 14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. In Delray Beach, the first outdoor tournament in North America features World No. 4 Milos Raonic and No. 20 Ivo Karlovic as the top two seeds. Overall, 10 of the Top 20 (as of Feb. 13) Emirates ATP Rankings are in action in the three tournaments.

RIO OPEN presented by CLARO (Rio de Janeiro): The first of two Brazilian tournaments on the ATP World Tour takes place in Rio, with the beautiful Jockey Club Brasileiro featuring eight clay courts, including a 6,200-seat stadium. This is the second (of 13) 500 level tournaments of the season. Six of the Top 30 in the Emirates ATP Rankings (as of Feb. 13) are entered. Along with Nishikori and Thiem, the other seeds are: reigning champion No. 3 Pablo Cuevas, No. 4 Pablo Carreno Busta, No. 5 Albert Ramos-Vinolas, No. 6 David Ferrer, No. 7 Paolo Lorenzi and No. 8 Joao Sousa. The other former winner in the field is Ferrer (2015).

— Nishikori Top Seed: Nishikori, who competed in Sunday’s Buenos Aires final (l. Dolgopolov), finds himself as the top seed again in a February ATP World Tour tournament. He is making his Rio de Janeiro debut. For the past three years the Japanese star was the No. 1 seed in Memphis where he won the title each time. Overall, he won Memphis four straight years. He won his last 17 matches in Memphis and owns a 17-1 career record. The World No. 5 Nishikori has a 9-2 match record on the season (not including BA final). He is trying to win his 12th career ATP World Tour title. He was runner-up in Brisbane (l. to Dimitrov) and followed with 4R at the Australian Open (l. to Federer in five sets).

— Cuevas Reigning Champ: No. 3 seed Cuevas is the reigning champion and the 31-year-old Uruguayan has enjoyed playing in Brazil. After winning last year’s Rio title, he went on to capture the Sao Paulo title. He also won in Sao Paulo in 2015. He has a 5-3 career record in ATP World Tour finals. He finished a year-end best No. 22 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after reaching a career-high No. 19 on Aug. 15.

— Ferrer Looks to End Drought: No. 6 seed Ferrer enters with a 10-2 career record in Rio, reaching the semi-finals in his 2014 debut (l. to Dolgopolov), winning his last clay title two years ago (d. Fognini) and reaching the quarter-finals last year. The 34-year-old Spaniard finished last year outside the Top 20 at No. 21 for the first time since 2004 and also failed to reach an ATP World Tour final for the first time since ’04. His last ATP World Tour title came in Vienna in October 2015.

— Ruud on the Rise: The youngest player in the draw is 18-year-old wild card Christian Ruud of Norway. Ruud is No. 16 in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan standings and at a career-high No. 201 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The future #NextGenATP star is looking for his first career ATP World Tour match win (0-2), losing in the 1R in Chengdu last year and Chennai last month.

— Brazilian Title Hopes: The top four Brazilians in the Emirates ATP Rankings are in the main draw, led by No. 75 Thomaz Bellucci, who takes on top seed Nishikori. The others are: No. 84 Thiago Monteiro, No. 88 Rogerio Dutra Silva and wild card No. 133 Joao Souza. Bellucci, who has four career ATP World Tour titles, is 2-3 in Rio with his best result being the quarter-finals in 2014. Souza advanced to the quarter-finals in 2015. Last year was the first year a Brazilian didn’t reach the quarters in Rio.

— Doubles Draw: The doubles draw features last year’s No. 1 duo in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings, Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares. The other seeds are: No. 2 Lukasz Kubot & Marcelo Melo, No. 3 Pablo Carreno Busta & Pablo Cuevas and reigning champions No. 4 Juan Sebastian Cabal & Robert Farah, who also won the 2014 title. Cabal and Farah won the Buenos Aires final on Sunday.

OPEN 13 PROVENCE (Marseille): The second of five French tournaments on the ATP World Tour features a strong line-up with six of the Top 20 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings, led by the top French duo of Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who won Sunday’s Rotterdam final. There are four other French seeds: No. 3 reigning champion and top Aussie Nick Kyrgios, No. 4 Lucas Pouille No. 5 and top German Alexander Zverev, No. 6 Richard Gasquet, No. 7 Gilles Simon, and No. 8 Benoit Paire. There are three former champions in the field –  Kyrgios, Simon (2007, 2015) and Tsonga (2009, 2013).

— Monfils Top Seed: Monfils is playing in his second tournament of the season after opening with a 4R showing at the Australian Open last month (l. to No. 9 Nadal in four sets). The 30-year-old Frenchman is making his eighth appearance in Marseille (5-7 record) and his best result is a runner-up two years ago (l. to Simon). Prior to that he was 1-6 in Marseille. This is the 10th time in his career Monfils is the top seed in an ATP World Tour tournament. He has won two titles and reached another final:

— Kyrgios Defending Champ: No. 3 seed Kyrgios is the reigning champion and the 21-year-old Aussie is looking to defend an ATP World Tour title for the first time in his career. Last year Kyrgios entered No. 41 and he cruised to his first ATP World Tour title without losing serve (held 47 games). He closed with wins over No. 10 Gasquet (QF), No. 8 Berdych (SF) and No. 12 Cilic (F). He went on to capture two other titles (Atlanta, Tokyo) and finish a year-end best No. 13. Kyrgios is 2-1 on the season and he reached the 2R at the Australian Open (l. to Seppi 10-8 in fifth set) and won a Davis Cup match (d. Satral) to help Australia into the QFs vs. the U.S. in April.

— Simon Success: No. 7 seed Simon comes in with a 21-8 career record in Marseille. He won the title in 2007 (d. Baghdatis) and 2015 (d. Monfils). He also advanced to the semi-finals in 2009 and 2013. He opens in the 1R against #NextGenATP Russian Karen Khachanov.

— #NextGenATP Trio: There are three #NextGenATP stars in the main draw, led by Emirates ATP Race to Milan leader Alexander Zverev, who won his second career ATP World Tour title one week ago in Montpellier (d. Gasquet).and moved to a career-high No. 18 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The others in the draw are Russians Karen Khachanov, who is ranked a career-high No. 48, and Daniil Medvedev, who is No. 2 in the Race to Milan and a career-high No. 60. There are two other future #NextGenATP players making their Marseille debut: wild cards Stefanos Tsitsipas (18) of Greece and Denis Shapovalov (17) of Canada. Tsitsipas is ranked No. 205 and Shapovalov is ranked No. 256.

— Doubles Draw: The top seeds in the doubles draw are Frenchmen Julien Benneteau & Nicolas Mahut, who are teaming together in a tournament for the first time since the 2012 US Open (QF). They last paired up in a 2015 Davis Cup 1R tie vs. Germany. The other seeds are: No. 2 Mate Pavic & Alexander Peya, No. 3 Rohan Bopanna & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and No. 4 Wesley Koolhof & Matwe Middelkoop, who lost in Sunday’s Rotterdam final.

DELRAY BEACH OPEN (Delray Beach): The first outdoor North American tournament of the season is the 25th edition of the Delray Beach Open. Leading the way is World No. 4 Milos Raonic, who is making his tournament debut. The other seeds are: No. 2 and 2015 champion Ivo Karlovic, No. 3 and top American Jack Sock, No. 4 and reigning champion Sam Querrey, No. 5 Steve Johnson, No. 6 Bernard Tomic, No. 7 Juan Martin del Potro and No. 8 Kyle Edmund. There are five former champions in the draw: Querrey (2016), Karlovic (2015), Kevin Anderson (2012), del Potro (2011) and Tommy Haas (2006).

— Raonic Top Seed: Raonic is the top seed in an ATP World Tour tournament for the second time this season and sixth time in his career. The 26-year-old Canadian is coming off his best career season in 2016 when he finished No. 3. He began this year with a semi-final in Brisbane where he was top seed (d. No. 9 Nadal, l. to eventual champion Dimitrov) and followed with a quarter-final at the Australian Open (l. to Nadal). Raonic withdrew from the 1R Davis Cup tie vs. Great Britain due to an adductor injury he suffered during the Australian Open.

— Querrey Defending Champ: No. 4 seed and wild card entry Querrey is the reigning champion. The 29-year-old Californian is making his fifth straight Delray Beach appearance and ninth overall (13-7 record). Last year he came in ranked No. 61 and capped off his title run with wins over del Potro in the SF and Ram in the final. He also was a semi-finalist in three tournaments (Memphis, Acapulco, ‘s-Hertogenbosch) and quarter-finalist at three other events, including Wimbledon where he beat No. 1 Djokovic in 3R. This season Querrey has a 3-3 record, with his best result being the 3R at the Australian Open (l. to Murray).

— Delpo Makes 2017 Debut:  One year ago Juan Martin del Potro returned to Delray Beach ranked No. 1,042 and for the first time since his title run in 2011 (d. Tipsarevic). This was the start of his second ATP Comeback of the Year season (2011). The 28-year-old Argentine finished No. 38 with a 32-12 match record on the season, highlighted by his 19th career title in Stockholm (d. Sock). He also earned a silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics where he beat No. 1 Djokovic in 1R and No. 5 Nadal in SF, (l. to No. 2 Murray). He closed the season by leading his country to a first Davis Cup title (d. Croatia) with two wins (d. Karlovic, No. 6 Cilic). The No. 7 seed in this year’s tournament opens against fellow big man Kevin Anderson, who won the title in 2012 and reached the final in 2014. Anderson has a 14-6 career record in Delray Beach.

— #NextGenATP Foursome: There are four #NextGenATP stars in the main draw, led by World No. 61 Borna Coric, who is looking for his first win of the season (0-3). The others are: No. 100 Jared Donaldson, No. 114 Taylor Fritz, who was last year’s ATP Star of Tomorrow recipient, and No. 120/wild card Stefan Kozlov, who is from nearby Pembroke Pines.

— 2015 Repeat Final: Karlovic, who was not broken en route to the 2015 title, opens against Donald Young, the player he beat 63 63 in that final. The 37-year-old Croat also reached the final in 2010 (l. to Gulbis). He has an 11-7 career record and six other times the Croat didn’t get past the second round, losing in 1R four times and 2R twice. He opened the season with a quarter-final in Doha (l. to Verdasco) and followed with a 3R showing at the Australian Open where he opened with a 22-20 win over Zeballos in 1R, hitting a tournament record 75 aces.

— Tommy Returns: Tommy Haas, who won the 2006 title, is playing in Delray Beach for the first time since 2014 (l. to Johnson in 2R). Haas an 11-7 record here. The 38-year-old German is playing on a protected ranking. He is the tournament director at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and he plans to retire this season.

— Doubles Draw: The top seeds in the doubles draw are four-time champions Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan, who are playing for the first time since their Australian Open runner-up effort last month (l. to Kontinen/Peers). The other seeds are: No. 2 Raven Klaasen & Rajeev Ram, No. 3 Treat Huey & Max Mirnyi and No. 4 Oliver Marach & Fabrice Martin, the defending champions (d. Bryans).