ATP action returns this week with three ATP 250 events in Montpellier (France), Zagreb (Croatia) and Vina del Mar (Chile).

ATP Montpellier

Richard Gasquet

Richard Gasquet returns to Montpellier as the defending champion and will be the clear favourite to retain his title.  Gasquet is one of 11 Frenchmen in this draw and that is before qualifying has even wrapped up.  Gasquet’s first match will be against either Paul-Henri Mathieu or Nicolas Mahut and he is projected to meet Julien Benneteau in the quarter-finals.  Benneteau, who is 0-9 in ATP finals, has not made the most confident start to 2014 and will face a difficult opener against Nikolay Davydenko.

Gasquet’s biggest threat to winning the title is probably Gael Monfils.  The wacky Frenchman has made an excellent start to the year with a finals appearance in Doha and a 3rd round showing at the Australian Open where both tournaments were ended at the hands of Rafael Nadal.   Monfils is in the third quarter of the draw, which features Dmitry Tursunov and Denis Istomin.  Jerzy Janowicz, who is in the second quarter, made his comeback from injury in Melbourne, but revealed after his third round loss to Florian Mayer that he hadn’t fully recovered from a broken foot.  He will play one of Melbourne’s surprise packages, Roberto Bautista-Agut or Adrian Mannarino in the second round.  The in-form Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who is the seventh seed, will fancy his chances of another strong week after making the final of Chennai and the third round at the Australian Open.

The fourth and final quarter features Gilles Simon and Jarkko Nieminen.  I always find Simon a difficult one to judge because he can be vulnerable against many players.  His second round match could be against Michael Llodra, who can be a very crafty player indoors and has never lost to Simon in four previous encounters.  Nieminen’s section features Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who I was really impressed with in the Bercy tournament at the end of 2013 when he showed his nerve and professionalism against someone who was lacking in that department, Benoit Paire.

1st Round Predictions: Mahut to beat Mathieu in 3 sets, Benneteau to beat Davydenko in 3 sets, Bautista Agut to beat Mannarino in 2 sets, Roger-Vasselin to beat Przysiezny in 2 tight sets, Monfils to beat Kubot in 2 sets, Kamke to beat Sousa in 2 sets and Nieminen to beat Nedovyesov in 3 sets

Moo’s Final Prediction: Gasquet d. Monfils

ATP Zagreb

Tommy Haas

Tommy Haas and Mikhail Youzhny headline the draw in Zagreb, which like Montpellier, is played on hard indoor courts.  Haas has yet to win a match on the ATP tour in 2014 and his year has been dominated by injury after having to pull out in the first round of the Australian Open.  He is located in a weak quarter that features the seed, Igor Sijsling, who hasn’t won on the ATP tour this year although did make the final of a Challenger tour event last weekend.  Philipp Kohlschreiber and Radek Stepanek are the seeds in the second quarter and both should on paper, have no problems.  One noteworthy appearance in this quarter is Borna Coric, one of many promising Croatian players in the draw, who won the US Open Juniors title last year.

The bottom half features the top two Croatian players on tour, Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig.  Both players are seeded and could meet in the quarter-finals.  Dodig could face Daniel Brands or Ivo Karlovic, who will play out a huge serving first round match, by far the most interesting of all the opening matches.  The final quarter features Youzhny and Lukas Rosol.  The quality of the fourth quarter is also lacking so Youzhny fully fit, should waltz through the first few rounds.

1st Round Predictions: Becker to beat Huta Galang in 2 sets, Sijsling to beat Kavcic in 3 sets, Stepanek to beat Hajek in 3 sets, Cilic to beat Delic in 2 tight sets, Brands to beat Karlovic in 3 tiebreak sets and Lacko to beat Struff in 2 sets

Moo’s Final Prediction: Kohlschreiber d. Youzhny

ATP Vina del Mar

Fabio Fognini

The first ATP tournament of the year on clay will be in Vina del Mar where Rafael Nadal made his comeback last year.  The draw is missing the Spaniard’s presence with Fabio Fognini and Tommy Robredo the top two seeds, who both did well at the Australian Open making the last 16.  Fognini’s quarter features Jeremy Chardy, who made the semi-finals of Vina del Mar last year and Pablo Carreno Busta, who was excellent on the clay in 2013.  Chardy will play Christian Garin in the first round, a repeat of their first round clash  from last year where Chardy was forced to three sets in what was nearly a shock, shock upset. 

Nicolas Almagro has always been excellent on the clay and could be rusty in his first tournament of the year after missing the Australian Open through injury.  He could play the Stuttgart finalist from last year, Federico Delbonis, which was on the clay.  The third quarter features two Spaniards, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Marcel Granollers, the latter of who normally sweeps up well in these types of events.  The final quarter is perhaps the strongest with Robredo, Alexandr Dolgopolov and last year’s champion, Horacio Zeballos.

1st Round Predictions: Bedene to beat Robert in 3 sets, Carreno Busta to beat Volandri in 2 sets, Chardy to beat Garin in 2 sets, Delbonis to beat Cuevas in 2 sets, Dolgopolov to beat Gimeno-Traver in 3 sets, Zeballos to beat Lama in 2 sets and Mayer to beat Haider-Maurer in 3 sets

Moo’s Final Prediction: Granollers d. Fognini