ATP Pune - DRAW: Kevin Anderson, Hyeon Chung and Gilles Simon seek title
The second edition of the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune (the tournament was held in Chennai for 22 years) has suffered a setback right before the beginning, with Marin Cilic withdrawing due to a pain in his knee, leaving Kevin Anderson as the only top-10 player in the draw. The last year's winner Gilles Simon and Hyeon Chung are also among the top seeds but the rest of the field is not that good, providing a chance for some lower-ranked players to enter the main action and fight for ATP wins in the very first week of the new year.
The world no. 6 Kevin Anderson lost in the final of Pune 12 months ago and he is the favorite to go one step further and lift the trophy next week, especially after a great Mubadala WTC run where he managed to beat Rafael Nadal. Kevin will face Arjun Kadhe or Laslo Djere in the second round and that shouldn't be a problem for him, waiting for Denis Istomin, Jaume Munar or Radu Albot in the quarters. The young Spaniard is the 7th seed and he is motivated to improve his game and results even more after a breakthrough 2018 season that saw him breaking into the top-100.
The defending champion Gilles Simon leads the second quarter as the 3rd seed, facing Ilya Ivashka or Hubert Hurkacz in round two before the quarter-final match against Jiri Vesely or Benoit Paire who was the semi-finalist here in 2018. The third quarter is the wide open one, with Roberto Carballes Baena, Steve Darcis, Michael Mmoh, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Marcel Granollers, Ramkumar Ramanathan and the 4th seed Malek Jaziri battling for the place in the last four and a great chance to grab some big points at the start of the year.
In the end, Hyeon Chung leads the bottom quarter as the 2nd seed, hoping to kick off the year in the best possible way after more injuries he suffered in 2018 that halted his progress despite finishing in the top-30. Hyeon plays against Ernests Gulbis or Pedro Sousa in the second round before another challenging test against the veteran Ivo Karlovic, Pablo Andujar or Evgeny Donskoy. Full draw:
[1]Kevin Anderson (RSA) vs Bye Laslo Djere (SRB) vs [WC]Arjun Kadhe (IND) Denis Istomin (UZB) vs Qualifier [7]Jaume Munar (ESP) vs Radu Albot (MDA)
[3]Gilles Simon (FRA) vs Bye Ilya Ivashka (BLR) vs Hubert Hurkacz (POL) Jiri Vesely (CZE) vs Qualifier [5]Benoit Paire (FRA) vs Qualifier
[6]Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP) vs [PR]Steve Darcis (BEL) Michael Mmoh (USA) vs [WC]Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) Marcel Granollers (ESP) vs [WC]Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) [4]Malek Jaziri (TUN) vs Bye
[8]Pablo Andujar (ESP) vs Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) Ivo Karlovic (CRO) vs Qualifier Ernests Gulbis (LAT) vs Pedro Sousa (POR) [2]Hyeon Chung (KOR) vs Bye
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2Q7FADn
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