2012 Sydney International Tennis: Men's Singles Preview and Hot-to-Trot Tips

Dan TalintyreJan 7, 2012

With the first Grand Slam of the year almost upon us in the Australian Open, warm-up tournaments have begun. This year's Sydney International is always a popular pick for great practice.

Local to Australia, the tournament always attracts several of the world's best tennis players. With prize money and ATP points on the line, the Sydney International is not only good for practice, but also helpful for starting the year successfully.

As the Australian Open creeps closer and the draw is released, I'll be doing previews and predictions for that also. But for now, let's start with some predictions for the Sydney International.

Whether you're an avid tennis fan and need something to occupy your thoughts, or whether you're simply just looking for some easy money to make, here's all the tips and predictions that you'll need to know for the Sydney International 2012.

With that out of the way, let's begin.

Seeded Players

1 of 7

Despite the absence of players with the caliber of Djokovic, Nadal or Federer, the tournament still boasts several big-name players. The winner will surely come out of the top eight seeded players, who for this tournament, are listed below.

Seed No.1 - Juan Martin Del Potro

Seed No.2 - John Isner

Seed No.3 - Richard Gasquet

Seed No.4 - Feliciano Lopez

Seed No.5 - Viktor Troicki

Seed No.6 - Florian Mayer

Seed No.7 - Marcel Granollers

Seed No.8 - Radek Stepanek

Because I believe the winner will come from the big eight, each round will focus specifically on these eight players and their chances at winning their matches.

First Round

2 of 7

The first round of a tournament is critical to getting off to a good start. Players will prefer to experience longer points in games and to get in to a good rhythm, rather than crushing an opponent.

However, for the Sydney International this year, the top-four seeded players face a bye, which I sure hope they win. This leaves us with just four games to discuss.

Victor Troicki faces local Australian hero Lleyton Hewitt in a tricky first round encounter. However, Troicki should prevail in this one, as he simply has too much class. Hewitt is under an injury cloud, as he has been for most of his 2011 season, and won't be too much trouble here.

Florian Mayer has a slightly easier time on paper, as he faces the World No. 54 Gilles Muller. However, Muller has been in fine form in recent months, and almost managed to knock off Andy Murray in the recent Brisbane International.

Muller took the first set, before losing the second in a tiebreaker and then the third set to love. And with Mayer sitting fifth in the world last year in break points converted, he should see Muller in a three-set thriller.

Marcel Granollers faces Australian wild-card Matthew Ebden, who may face a hammering in this one. Granollers has yet to establish himself on the ATP circuit, and the games that he has done, have all been on softer surfaces. He may choose to use this as a statement game.

Radek Stepanek faces veteran Xaiver Malisse in the first round; not a match I'm sure he was too happy to draw. Malisse was beaten in the first round of the Chennai Open by a wild card, and will hope to bounce back stronger in this one.

Stepanek however, will be too strong for Malisse in this one. After advancing to the quarter finals at the Brisbane International, Radek lost to Alexandr Dolgopolov, whose class is definitely on the rise.

All top eight seeds will go through to the second round.

Second Round

3 of 7

The top-four seeds all see their first taste of action in the Sydney International in the second round.

Del Potro faces either Ivan Dodig or Kukasz Kubot. Long story shot, he'll win that one comfortably.

John Isner will meet either Sergiy Stakhovsky or an unknown qualifier. I can't see either player putting up too much fight for the American, even if they both played together. Isner will be looking to get the serve going early too.

Richard Gasquet will face Fabop Fognini, the 48th ranked Italian, who did have a strong 2011 and who struggles in hard-court games. Fognini went 6-14 on hard court in 2011, and only won 68 percent of his services games. Gasquet will prevail in that one comfortably.

Lopez takes on Andreas Seppi, in an Italy-Spain encounter that is sure to see a fanatical fan or two. Like Fognini, Seppi is another Italian who struggles on the harder surfaces and finished 10-14 in appearances on the hard court in 2011. Lopez will be too strong.

Victor Troicki will take on Robin Haase in an interesting match. Despite Haase finishing 13-16 on hard court in 2011, he managed to win 80 percent of his own service games in that time. He took part in a lot of tiebreakers, 23 to be precise. In those games, Haase won just over a third of those, and against Troicki, who wins 34 percent of opponents first serve points, this is not good enough.

Florian Mayer will meet either Pablo Andujar, who went 3-11 on hard court in 2011, or a qualifier. Either way, he will get through unscathed.

Marcel Granollers takes on the exciting Cypriot in Marcus Baghdatis, who does have a soft spot for Australia, having had great success here before. However, after watching Andy Murray simply wipe the floor up with Marcus in Brisbane, Baghdatis will be keen to find some quality form before the Open begins. It's a hunch, but I think the Cypriot will prevail in this one.

Radek Stepanek will take on Australian wild-card James Duckworth, and I'm with the local here. Duckworth is not brilliant by any stretch of the imagination, but Stepanek isn't either.

Known for injury issues, Stepanek is always hard to follow. After watching Duckworth's strong win over Nicholas Mahut, before going down strongly to Gilles Simon, he may just have enough to get over the line. Expect the home crowd to play a big part in this one.

TOP NEWS

Bleacher Report1w

Bleacher Report1w

With Jayson Tatum sidelined, Celtics' fourth-quarter comeback falls short in Game 7 loss to 76ers

Bleacher Report1w

Quarter Finals

4 of 7

After losing seeds seven and eight in the second round, what will the quarter finals throw up for us? Some fantastic matchups.

None more so than Del Potro taking on Baghdatis. After beating Granollers, Marcus will feel he has some of the form back, but that form will stop here.

Del Potro's consistent style of play will be too much for the death-or-glory Baghdatis. And after topping the ATP circuit in break points saved in 2011, as well as the top ten in second serve points won and service games won, he will be too classy for Baghdatis.

We get our first seeded encounter as Feliciano Lopez takes on Victor Troiki, and I've got a feeling that Lopez may serve his way to a win in this one. Troiki only won 78 percent of his own serve on hard court in 2011, but won points returning a first serve 34 percent of the time and broke games on 26 percent of occasions. This a number higher than the likes of Tsonga and Roddick.

But when the guy serving to you finished third in aces for the year and wins 78 percent of his first-serve points, Troicki won't have enough to answer Lopez.

Again, another seeded matchup happens as Florian Mayer takes on Richard Gasquet. After a tough match against Fognini, Gasquet may not have enough to go through another long match with Mayer. The German finished 2011 by winning 27 percent of opponents' service games and 46 percent of break points. Should he break, Gasquet will not have the same ability to break back.

Gasquet will start as a favorite for this one, but Mayer will walk away with the win.

John Isner is having a nice quiet time on the bottom side of the draw, and as the other five seeds take on tough matches, Isner takes on James Duckworth, who already played brilliantly to defeat Stepanek. John Isner is at a different level though, with 811 aces for the year, 77 percent of first-serve points won and a whopping 91 percent of service games won.

Isner is top ten in break points saved, and should have too strong a weapon in his serve for Duckworth to take him down.

Semifinals

5 of 7

Now we're getting down to the fun stuff.

Del Potro will face Feliciano Lopez, in what should be a brilliant match. Lopez's dominant serve will be combated by Del Potro's consistent style of play and determined defense, as well as a great serve of his own.

Juan Martin won 87 percent of his service games on hard court in 2011, and finished with the excellent record of 33-13. The problem for Lopez will be his ability to break Del Potro, who led the ATP in break points saved. Add this to Lopez only winning 17 percent of his opponents' service games, and Del Potrto will win a classy encounter.

Florian Mayer against John Isner will also be a cracker of a match. As I mentioned in the slide before, Mayer finished 2011 winning 27 percent of opponents' service games and 46 percent of break points.

But against John Isner, you need to go serve for serve with him if you're going to stand a chance. Mayer only threw down 3.4 aces per match in 2011, which is definitely not good enough if you're going to beat Isner. He is simply too big and too dominant in this one.

Final

6 of 7

We finally made it to the final with the top-two seeds playing off, as every tournament should ideally end up.

Del Potro has had the far tougher run. After winning against Baghdatis' determination and Lopez's serve, he is well poised to take on John Isner.

The American's only real test came against Florian Mayer, who will have served as a great practice run for Del Potro. Mayer's defensive strength and ability to quickly attack is a similar game to Del Potro.

And after winning that, he will be too good for Del Potro as well. John Isner will win the 2011 Sydney International in dominant fashion.

Whilst Del Potro's serve will maintain its strength and the two of them will exchange service games, in a shootout you always take the guy with the bigger and better weapons.

John Isner's serve is better than any of Del Porto's weapons.

Hot-to-Trot Tips for the Tournament

7 of 7

I said there was going to be some opportunities to make some easy money, and here's your hot-to-trot tips for the tournament to ensure that you are also a winner.