(Photo by Victor Fraile/Getty Images)
This week on tour marks the first time since the beginning of April that three ATP World Tour events will be held during the same week.
The rare occurrence on the grandest circuit that tennis has to offer means that St. Petersburg, Russia; Vienna, Austria; and Lyon, France will have the opportunity to showcase the best players in the world.
The distinct and valuable points allocated this week will assist those players on the cusp of gaining entry into the Barclays ATP World Tour finals in London, as well as lending a hand to lower ranked competitors seeking a jolt in prize money.
With Nikolay Davydenko sitting out this week in St. Petersburg, and Andy Murray not defending his title due to a continued left wrist injury, Russian rocket Mikhail Youzhny will attempt to continue his recent string of good fortune on tour by advancing to his third straight final.
Youznhy will be joined by No. 2 seed Victor Hansecu, No. 3 seed Viktor Troicki, and No. 4 seed Jeremy Chardy at the St. Petersburg Open.
Other notables in the St. Pete's draw will include, Marat Safin, Richard Gasquet, and Robby Ginepri.
On to the Vienna draw and recent tour springboard Marin Cilic. The lanky Croatian youngster was a late entry into the tournament, taking an 11th hour wildcard in the hopes of continuing his late season surge.
Cilic will take his recent win over Rafeal Nadal (Beijing) and deepest run ever in a Grand Slam (l. del Potro), towards what he hopes will be his third title of the season.
The Croat will be joined by No. 2 seed Radek Stepanek, No. 3 seed Gael Monfils and No. 4 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Defending champ Philipp Petzchner will also be present, who will attempt to defend his title.
Other notables in the field will include, No. 6 seed Feliciano Lopez, No. 8 seed John Isner, and Janko Tipsarevic.
Tipsarevic will be looking to maintain his high level of play from Moscow, where he reached his first final of the season.
The French contingent will be out in full force in Lyon, led by top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who will be attempting to solidify his place amongst the elite eight in London.
Tsonga's road to a title in Lyon will be complicated by the likes of No. 2 seed Gilles Simon, No. 3 seed Ivan Ljubicic, and No. 4 seed Juan Monaco.
Fabrice Santoro, who will be retiring by years end, remains the oldest of the 11 participating Frenchmen in the draw.
Santoro will attempt to end his 20-year career with his second title in Lyon (1997), while taking part in his 18th tournament in the French suburb.
Argentine Leonardo Mayer and Joesslin Ouanna round out the lurking threats in the field.
Let us now take a look at the top and bottom halves and the obstacles the top two seeds from each of the three events will face this week.
St. Petersburg Open—Russia
Top half:
After two weeks of dominating tennis, Mikhail Youzhny will hope to make good on his second consecutive week in Russia. Some home cooking and unanimous crowd support could enable the 27-year-old Muscovite to a dominate during his St. Pete's campaign.
First up for Youzhny will be Andrey Golubev. Assuming the top seed is rested from Moscow, a Wednesday start should prevent the top seed from faltering early.
The quarterfinals could see a blockbuster all-Russian affair with retiring Marat Safin or No. 4 seed Igor Andreev setting up a Youzhny showdown
Safin will have to defeat tough Frenchman Richard Gasquet in round one, while Andreev will likely have to defeat the Safin-Gasquet winner in round two.
With Youzhny's toughest competition in his section coming from either Safin or Andreev, a semifinal clash with either No. 3 seed Viktor Troikci, or No. 8 seed Evgeny Korolev could pose a less difficult task.
Two of the hardest hitters on tour, Troicki and Korolev, are dangerous when they're on, but remain easy targets because of their overall inconsistent play.
Korolev did play well to defeat Safin in Moscow, who relied on his monster to oust the former world No. 1.
All in all, if fatigue plays a factor in Youzhny's performance, expect someone like Andreev to take over proceedings.
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