In response to the article I wrote about Neil Harman in the week (see HERE), it was revealed on Friday that he has been suspended by the Times pending an investigation.  Now we can focus on some actual, relevant tennis! The Citi Open hosts a joint event next week with an ATP 500 and WTA International event.  Although my focus has now switched to hard courts, there is one final clay court ATP event in Kitzbuhel, Austria.  Anyway, let’s take a look at both draws in Washington.

Note – This post has been edited after it was revealed that Grigor Dimitrov has pulled out of the Citi Open

ATP 500

Tomas Berdych has taken a wildcard into Washington and will headline the draw as the number one seed.  The Czech world number five suffered a relatively early exit at Wimbledon, losing to Marin Cilic in the third round, so should be raring to go for the summer hard court season.  His quarter features Vasek Pospisil, Santiago Giraldo and Feliciano Lopez.  Pospisil reached the quarter-finals in Atlanta before losing to eventual finalist Dudi Sela in three sets.  He has also continued his very successful doubles partnership with Jack Sock as the pair reached the final in Atlanta.  Pospisil could meet Berdych in the third round.  This is the weakest quarter of the draw with Benjamin Becker the only unseeded player worth noting.  Becker reached the semi-finals of Atlanta and has a workable draw that could see him take out a seed or two if he is not too fatigued.

The second quarter features Kei Nishikori and Richard Gasquet.  Nishikori has had some fabulous results this year (SF in Miami, W Barcelona and F Madrid), but his body always seems to let him down.  After a four week break since Wimbledon, Nishikori should be fit and healthy (i’ve heard nothing to suggest otherwise).  His first match of the week will be against Sam Querrey and Michael Russell.  The first seed that Kei could meet is Yen-Hsun Lu, who has also been pretty fragile of late in terms of injuries.  Gasquet pulled out of Atlanta, but remains in the draw for Washington where he will open his campaign against Dudi Sela or Julien Benneteau.  Sela has reached the final in Atlanta and impressed many.  Joey Hanf of the Tennis Nerds wrote an excellent piece on Sela which you can read HERE.  Like Becker, I wonder if fatigue could be an issue.  However if he wins his opener, Sela would have his chances against Gasquet, who hasn’t played since Wimbledon.

Grigor Dimitrov was in the third quarter, but pulled out due to a flu and sinus infection (via Ben Rothenberg).  He has been replaced by Julien Benneteau, who will play his first match against Donald Young or Yuichi Sugita.  The seed he could meet is Denis Istomin in the third round.  Lurking in this section is Bernard Tomic, who won a title in Bogota last week.  I watched bits of the final and it was beautifully odd.  Tomic looked incredibly pumped up and something was definitely different in his manner on the court.  Based on that form, he should come through his opener against Alejandro Gonzalez and be pushing Istomin in the second round.

The final quarter features a number of huge dudes; Milos Raonic, John Isner and Ivo Karlovic are three of the four seeds with non-huge dude, Lleyton Hewitt also playing after his title run on the grass courts of Newport two weeks ago.  Raonic is the number two seed and like Dimitrov, plays his first tournament since breaking new ground in reaching the semi-finals of a Grand Slam at Wimbledon.  His first match will be against Michael Berrer or Jack Sock.  The American player has reached back-to-back semi-finals in Newport and Atlanta, and could be a banana skin for Raonic if they meet in the second round.  Hewitt could meet Marinko Matosevic in the second round, which would be a fun match.  Isner and Karlovic are set to meet in the third round; both have been on good form.  Isner has reached the final in Atlanta, meanwhile Karlovic made back-to-back finals in Newport and Bogota, losing both in three very tight sets.

1st Round Predictions: Becker d. Kavcic in 2 sets, Kamke d. Estrella-Burgos in 3 sets, Querrey d. Russell in 2 tight sets, Tiafoe d. Donskoy in 3 sets, Stakhovsky d. Jaziri in 2 sets, Tomic d. Gonzalez in 2 sets, Johnson d. Duckworth in 3 sets, Paire d. Dancevic in 3 sets and Sock d. Berrer in 2 sets

Moo’s Final Prediction: Nishikori d. Dimitrov Karlovic

WTA International

Wimbledon semi-finalist, Lucie Safarova will be the number one seed in Washington after Eugenie Bouchard pulled out.  It seemed a wise move from Genie, who will be playing at home next week in Canada and will want to be 100% for her first tournament in Canada since becoming relevant.  Safarova’s first match of the week will be against Kristina Mladenovic.  The Frenchwoman has done well in the past two weeks, reaching the semi-finals in Istanbul and the quarter-finals of Baku.  It will be a dangerous match for Lucie, who will be vulnerable having not played a competitive match since Wimby.  Her projected quarter-final opponent is Madison Keys.  The American player won her first WTA title on the grass courts of Eastbourne in a fricking fabulous final against Angelique Kerber.  Being so close to Wimby, I don’t think it received quite as much as attention as it deserved.  Keys held her nerve magnificently well to defeat Kerber in a tight third set, one of the best sets of women’s tennis i’ve watched all year.  Injury cruelly derailed her hopes at Wimbledon, but I believe Keys can translate her great form on grass to the hard courts.

The second quarter features Alize Cornet and Sorana Cirstea; since Wimbledon, Cornet lost in the first round of Bastad to Anett Kontaveit.  She will play Shelby Rogers in the first round, which will be a dangerous match.  Cirstea has had a terrible year, winning just seven main draw WTA matches this year.  She will also be defending finalist points from Canada next week.  In Baku, she won a match but then got double breadsticked by Stefanie Voegele in the second round.  In the first round of DC, she plays Kiki Bertens.  Bojana Jovanovski could await in the second round; the Serbian player just made the final in Baku, but has a long journey ahead of her from Baku to Washington.

Sloane Stephens is the top seed in the third quarter as the elusive hunt for her first WTA title continues.  Her first match against Christina McHale could be a stumbling block.  Let’s face it, any match could be and it all depends on her mood and level of intensity.  Svetlana Kuznetsova is also in attendance after a first round exit at Wimbledon to Michelle Larcher de Brito that completely went under the radar.  She’s often a slow starter after time away from the tour so i’d be surprised if she makes it to the quarter-finals.  Kuznetsova plays Polona Hercog in the first round with the winner meeting Heather Watson or Kirsten Flipkens, who play each other in an intriguing opener.

The final quarter features the standout first round match featuring the number two seed, Ekaterina Makarova and defending champion, Magdalena Rybarikova.  Magdalena has won ten straight matches in DC, winning the title in 2012 and never losing a match at this tournament.  She defeated Makarova on her way to the title last year in a one-sided semi-final match, 6-2 6-0.  Rybarikova has been on a dire run of form coming into this event, losing four matches in a row and falling to Misa Eguchi in Baku, a player I had never heard off! I’d probably go for Rybarikova despite the recent form, but my wildcard tip of the week to go deep is Lauren Davis.  In the first round, she plays Peng Shuai, who won the event in Nanchang and will be travelling from China.  Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is also present in this section of the draw and could face a Wimbledon rematch with Alison Riske in the second round.

1st Round Predictions: Safarova d. Mladenovic in 3 sets, Keys d. Nara in 2 sets, Cornet d. Rogers in 3 sets, Cirstea d. Bertens in 2 sets, Kuznetsova d. Hercog in 2 very tight sets, Flipkens d. Watson in 3 sets, Stephens d. McHale in 3 sets, Pavlyuchenkova d Razzano in 2 very tight sets, Davis d. Peng in 2 sets (retirement possible) and Rybarikova d. Makarova in 2 sets (1 tight, 1 easy)

Moo’s Final Prediction: Keys d. Davis

Thoughts on either draws?