Marseille's draw is clearly stronger than Delray Beach 's, as it claims two players in
the top ten. Milos Raonic and Stan
Wawrinka are the top seeds and the fairly heavy favorites to reach the
finals. Raonic could face the always
tricky Gael Monfils in the quarters, but Raonic's serve should carry him
through on an indoor hard court.
The next quarter is full of talented players, including
Bautista-Agut, Robin Haase, Vasek Pospisil, Dominic Thiem, Joao Sousa, Jerzy
Janowicz and David Goffin. Despite their
talent, no one in this group has been playing particularly well so far this
year. Big things were expected of Goffin
after his incredible second half to 2014, but he's been a disappointment so
far. Janowicz gets the edge out of this
quarter, as he makes his living on indoor hard courts in France (don't forget
his breakout performance in the Paris Masters a few years back).
Look for Gilles Simon to come out of the third quarter and
reach the semis. Third seeded Ernests Gulbis
is still winless on the year, and talented young gun Borna Coric only has one
win himself in 2015.
Wawrinka is clearly the best player in the bottom quarter,
but it's possible he'll be a bit tired (or lack motivation) playing back to
back weeks. Still, it's hard to see
someone knocking him out before the semis given his relatively weak section of
the draw.
In the semis, look for Raonic to get past Janowicz in three,
and for Simon to squeak past Wawrinka. Simon
would put up a good fight, but Raonic has never lost to Simon in their three
career meetings. This isn't likely to
change indoors, and Raonic should be able to escape with the title.
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