This week the ATP Tour moves to Barcelona for an ATP 500 event and Budapest for an ATP 250 event. There is a number of high quality players in both fields but we're going to narrow it down to see who the dangers are.
Starting in Budapest and although we don't have any of the top ten playing. Janko Tipsarevic is the top seed but he's been off form lately so I don't think he will contend here. Players like Horacio Zeballos and Santiago Giraldo are early opponents for him and I wouldn't be surprised if either of those men took him out. Mikhail Youzhny is fourth seed but I'm not convinced he has the consistency to go all the way.
I've been very impressed with Gilles Simon this season. He might not be winning titles every week but he has played some great tennis. I like his chances of at least a semi final appearance this week. He is going for his fourth title here and has only lost once so he has to be considered a strong favourite. Jarkko Nieminen is a second round opponent for him and that could go either way. Nieminen has also been impressive this year and if he could shock Simon then he could have a very good week.
There are two other players I'm really liking this week. David Goffin is a young Belgian who burst on to the scene last year during the clay court season. He is a bit inconsistent but I think he is going to be a strong player in the coming months. He has a tough draw but he could be a potential dark horse this week. My favourite this week is Andreas Seppi. The Italian has impressed me a lot since last Summer despite not always having strong results. I think he could be the one to watch this week.
In Barcelona we should have a very interesting week. Rafa Nadal has been in scintillating form since his return from injury in which time he won two clay court titles and the Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells. Last week he lost for the first time in eight years at Monte Carlo against Novak Djokovic. After watching that game I don't think Nadal is in a bad place with his game. The courts were wet and that just allowed Djokovic to take a further step up the court and he could play very aggressively from there. I don't see anybody else in the game who can possibly play that kind of style against Nadal and be successful and for that reason Nadal will win this week.
David Ferrer is a very talented clay court player and has a good record here which includes four final losses to Nadal. I see him possibly being in the final but I don't see him beating Rafa, especially after the 6-0 6-2 loss he suffered a few weeks ago against Nadal. Milos Raonic lost a thrilling match to Ferrer last week and I think he could have another good week this year. Tomas Berdych has been brilliant this season and he could be a possible contender but again I'm not sure he could beat Rafa on clay. Grigor Dimitrov impressed in Monte Carlo last week and will be looking to build on that this week but it remains to be seen if he has the consistency.
So this week will see two events on the clay and I have given a number of contenders for both events. In Barcelona I see Nadal at 2/5 as a certain winner and I think Ferrer e/w at 5/1 is the best bet outside of backing Rafa. In Budapest, I''m torn between two players. Gilles Simon has the history in Romania to suggest he can win another title but Seppi has impressed me a lot and is very capable of beating Simon. My heart says Seppi at 13/2 but I am going to follow my head and go Simon at 5/1.
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