The field at Chennai has a certain air of deja vu about it: Last year's
winner was Guillermo Canas, and he's the #1 seed. His opponent in last
year's final was Paradorn Srichaphan, and he's the #2 seed.
Though, if we were picking a quarter to be in, it would probably be the
second, headed by #4 seed Juan Ignatio Chela and #5 Andrei Pavel. It's
the one with the wildcards in it. Chela opens against Leander Paes, who
is making what will probably be his only singles appearance of the year,
and will then face either Zeljko Krajan or another wildcard. Pavel has
it a bit harder: He opens against a qualifier, but then it's either
Albert Portas or (more likely, since this isn't clay) Jerome Golmard.
Golmard's ranking is pretty bad right now, but that's due to injury;
based on his pre-injury results, he should have been seeded in this draw.
Also a candidate for seeding if the injury rules were smarter is
Mark Philippoussis, who is in the third quarter headed by #3 seed
Sjeng Schalken and #6 Rainer Schuettler. Philippoussis opens
against a qualifier, then is likely to face Schuettler, who starts
against Julian Knowle. Schalken will face Juan Balcells, then
either Kristian Pless or Jean-Rene Lisnard. Schuettler had a great
first half last year, but crashed in the second half; can slow
hardcourts (probably his ideal surface) revive him? Can Schalken
keep up the form he showed last year? If not, Philippoussis could
do some real damage.
Neither of the top seeds has such a dangerous floater to worry
about. Good news for Canas, who (following the withdrawal of Tim
Henman) is in line for the #12 seed at the Australian Open. But
he has to stay ahead of Srichaphan to do it. The good news is, he
opens against Dick Norman, then either a wildcard or Jiri Vanek,
who has hardly played in the past year. The other seed in his
quarter is #7 Lars Burgsmuller, who opens against Cecil Mamiit,
then Justin Gimelstob or Karol Kucera. The biggest question for
Canas is, is he fully back in form? We'll find out.
After last year, there isn't much doubt about #2 seed Srichaphan's
form. And if Canas doesn't win Chennai, Srichaphan could get that
#12 Australian Open seed by defending his finalist points. (If he
doesn't reach at least the final, and Canas stumbles, it appears
Sebastien Grosjean will get the #12 spot.) He too has a fairly
easy draw: First Jan Vacek, then John van Lottum or a qualifier.
The other seed in his section is #8 Albert Montanes, but Montanes
likes clay and has slipped a bit since his solid results in 2001.
He opens against Michael Llodra, then Sargis Sargsian or a qualifier.
It's a strange field: A half dozen really solid competitors (Canas,
Srichaphan, Schalken, Chela, Pavel, arguably Philippoussis), and then
a very large gap -- in quality if not in the rankings. Of course, this
being the ATP, that does not mean one of those six will win....
--
France's bright young thing.
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※ 編輯: Gasquet 來自: 218.187.32.49 (12/30 19:17)