Pilot Pen 2010: Preview of the men’s draw
The last week of the United States Open Olympus Series will highlight one of the only four competitions in the calendar season where both male and female tennis players participate in the same tournament. This year’s Pilot Pen tennis tournament will show case local stars James Blake and Caroline Wozniacki.
With James suffering from a variety of injuries throughout the year and Caroline recently becoming the new hot favourite to win the title at Flushing Meadows. However, after the withdrawal of both Serena Williams as well as Justine Henin, Pilot Pen will provide a final indicator regarding the form of the top seeds coming to New York.
As far as the men’s event is concerned, none of the top ten players are participating this year. Marcos Baghdatis, Fernando Gonzalez, Thomaz Bellucci as well as Mardy Fish will come as the top four seeds to win the title. Other notable contenders to look out for will include fifth seeded Andrey Golubev, seventh seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov, eleventh seed Xavier Malisse as well as Taylor Dent.
Mardy could be coming in exhausted after playing the Cincinnati Masters and therefore his performance at the event could be uncertain. The same could be said for Marcos Baghdatis as well who knocked down Rafael Nadal during his semi-final match at the ATP Cincinnati Masters 2010. Fernando Gonzalez on the other hand will be participating in his first championship since injuring his knee at the French Open in spite of the fact that he will be looking to perform well prior to the U.S. Open. However, experts are not expecting much from him at the moment.
Dolgopolov might just appear as the only seed to look up this week, whereas Taylor Dent's threatening serves could help him in producing some good results. Malisse on the other hand has also been performing quite well over the recent past and the talented tennis star from Belgium remains one of the strongest contenders on the circuit.
When talking about the top half of the draw, Mardy could continue his winning momentum. However, one has to keep in mind that the American may pull out in order to preserve his energy for Flushing Meadows. Meanwhile, Marcos Baghdatis remains the logical top seed to make his way into the semi-final round. However, he hasn’t played with consistency over the last few weeks on the tour.
Taylor Dent as well as Thiemo de Bakker might make it to the semi-final round of the Pilot Pen, considering their performances over the recent past.
The bottom half of the draw on the other hand would likely showcase a couple of upsets that could result in a fortunate week for both Dolgopolov as well as Malisse. Both of them are capable of hitting all sorts of shots and keeping in mind their flat hit strokes, a semi-final encounter is not at all impossible.
Viktor Troicki is another name, as he is also a strong hard court player to look for in the Pilot Pen tennis tournament.
Denis Istomin has also regained his lost form and therefore could be in line for a couple of upsets. However, the only concern is that his movement could be affected as a result of his injury last week.
According to various bookmakers, Malisse as well Dolgopolov are expected to advance in this half of the draw at the Pilot Pen tennis competition.
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