The Memphis Open is headlined by Kei Nishikori, and he is
the clear favorite to take home the title.
However, Nishikori better hope he is returning well this week, as he
could potentially have to face big serving Ivo Karlovic and John Isner on his
way to the finals. Facing both seems
relatively likely for Nishikori, as neither Karlovic nor Isner has a
particularly difficult draw before reaching Nishikori.
Kevin Anderson is the number two seed, and his half of the
draw isn't overly menacing. The
struggling Dolgopolov is the next highest seed in his half, followed by Steve
Johnson and Adrian Mannarino. More
dangerous to Anderson
should be 22 year old Australian Bernard Tomic.
Tomic has been playing better lately, and looks to be reinvigorated
following the emergence of even younger Aussie Nick Kyrgios.
Expect Nishikori to play Isner in the top half semifinals,
and Anderson to
play Tomic in the bottom half. In the
finals, Nishikori should be able to get past Anderson in straights, although the big
hitting South African is capable of giving nearly anyone problems on his best
days.
While the first round matchup of wildcards Jared Donaldson
and Stefan Kozlov won't have title implications this week (the winner will
likely go down to Querrey or Becker in the second round), it is one of the most
interesting matches of the tournament for fans of American tennis. Donaldson (18) and Kozlov (17) may be the two
best young American tennis players, and big things are expected from both of
them. While it's not yet clear which one
is the best prospect, Donaldson should prevail in this one. He just won a challenger and is up to 178 in
the world rankings. The younger Kozlov
has shown he can compete with players ranked well above him, but he is
currently outside the top 400 in the rankings.
Donaldson definitely has the pressure in this one, but he should be able
to get past Kozlov in straights.
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