Pacific Life Open Men's Draw Preview

This post is cross-posted to Craig Hickman's Tennis Blog:

1)FEDERER, Roger SUI vs BYE
Q vs HAJEK, Jan CZE
MOYA, Carlos ESP vs Q
BYE vs (25)STEPANEK, Radek CZE

"The Mighty Fed" will get through this section easily, probably without dropping a set. The pulchritudinous Moya versus the unprepossessing Stepanek could be interesting as the Spaniard has been playing well recently while the Czech is struggling with the Hingis (Black Widow) curse. MadProfessah Pick: Federer.

(19)HEWITT, Lleyton AUS vs BYE
TIPSAREVIC, Janko SRB vs SRICHAPHAN, Paradorn THA
HORNA, Luis PER vs VOLANDRI, Filippo ITA
BYE vs (14)FERRER, David ESP

The odious Hewitt is fresh off his win at the Tennis Channel Open in Vegas last week but Ferrer is another of the very talented Spaniards. Tipsarevic versus Srichapan should feature great shotmaking but in the end I think Hewitt will get through to set up another shellacking by the World's #1 who will be gunning for his 44th consecutive match win, on track to end Guillermo Vilas' all-time record of 46 consecutive match wins. MadProfessah Pick: Hewitt.

(12)DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB vs BYE
GINEPRI, Robby USA vs (wc)KENDRICK, Robert USA
KOROLEV, Evgeny RUS vs GREUL, Simon GER
BYE vs (20)TURSUNOV, Dmitry RUS

Djokovic will destroy Ginepri (that will be a fun match to watch, hubba hubba!) as well as Tusunov to get through this section as long as he has no problem breathing the Coachella Valley air. Mad Professah pick: Djokovic.

(27)MELZER, Jurgen AUT vs BYE
MONFILS, Gael FRA vs BENNETEAU, Julien FRA
PLESS, Kristian DEN vs SERRA, Florent FRA
BYE vs (6)BLAKE, James USA

Melzer got to the final against Hewitt last week and is playing well but I don't think Blake will have any problem getting through this section to set up a hard-fought 3rd round match against the young Serbian player. Mad Professah pick: Blake.

(4)DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS vs BYE
ROCHUS, Christophe BEL vs (wc)QUERREY, Sam USA
HENMAN, Tim GBR vs HERNYCH, Jan CZE
BYE vs (28)CALLERI, Agustin ARG

Davydenko should get though here. I doubt that the rusty and rickety Henman will even make it to the 3rd round. Mad Professah pick: Davydenko.

(23)SAFIN, Marat RUS vs BYE
MONACO, Juan ARG vs MAHUT, Nicolas FRA
Q vs Q
BYE vs (13)MURRAY, Andy GBR

Safin and Murray will have a slug fest which (as most matches involving the big Russian are) will be decided by which Marat shows up. Mad Professah pick: Safin/Murray toss-up.

(9)HAAS, Tommy GER vs BYE
Q vs Q
VLIEGEN, Kristof BEL vs Q
BYE vs (24)HRBATY, Dominik SVK

The talented but somewhat insane German is playing very well this Spring and should get past the even crazier Hrbaty. Mad Professah pick: Haas.

(26)SODERLING, Robin SWE vs BYE
GIMELSTOB, Justin USA vs BRACCIALI, Daniele ITA
DANCEVIC, Frank CAN vs Q
BYE vs (5)GONZALEZ, Fernando CHI

I have one thing to say: FoGo! MadProfessah pick: Gonzalez.
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(8)LJUBICIC, Ivan CRO vs BYE
BECKER, Benjamin GER vs Q
MIRNYI, Max BLR vs JOHANSSON, Thomas SWE
BYE vs (31)ALMAGRO, Nicolas ESP

This is an interesting little section. Ljubicic seems to have issues with big matches that are non Davis Cup-related. His performance in slams is dismal. I still expect him to get through here but both Mirnyi and Almagro are good players. When Becker is on he can be very tough to beat as well. Mad Professah pick: Ljubicic.

(21)FISH, Mardy USA vs BYE
MARTIN, Alberto ESP vs MATHIEU, Paul-Henri FRA
KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp GER vs LEE, Hyung-Taik KOR
BYE vs (10)NALBANDIAN, David ARG

Fish is playing well but Nalbandian wins a lot more matches than I expect him to do. I understand and appreciate is a very solid ballstriker and grinder but why does he have the body of a baseball player? Mad Professah pick: Nalbandian.

(15)GASQUET, Richard FRA vs BYE
*(wc)KUERTEN, Gustavo BRA vs DEL POTRO, Juan Martin ARG*
ROITMAN, Sergio ARG vs GOLDSTEIN, Paul USA
BYE vs (18)NIEMINEN, Jarkko FIN

I do like the Lefty Finn but I think Gasquet will (barely) get through this section to face Roddick in a marquee 3rd round match. Mad Professah pick: Gasquet.

(29)MALISSE, Xavier BEL vs BYE
KOUBEK, Stefan AUT vs SPADEA, Vincent USA
LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP vs ROCHUS, Olivier BEL
BYE vs (3)RODDICK, Andy USA

The New Roddick™ should do quite well in this year's Pacific Life Open. The match against Gasquet in the 3rd round should be excellent. Mad Professah pick: Roddick.

(7)ROBREDO, Tommy ESP vs BYE
SIMON, Gilles FRA vs Q
PHAU, Bjorn GER vs BJORKMAN, Jonas SWE
BYE vs (30)CHELA, Juan Ignacio ARG

Tommy Robredo is my favorite of the Spanish players, for obvious reasons. He should get past Chela easily. Mad Professah pick: Robredo.

(17)BAGHDATIS, Marcos CYP vs BYE
GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo ESP vs MASSU, Nicolas CHI
(wc)RUSSELL, Michael USA vs GICQUEL, Marc FRA
BYE vs (11)BERDYCH, Tomas CZE

Hopefully Berdych is on the mend and Baghdatis is recovering from whatever has been ailing him recently. Mad Professah pick: Berdych.

(16)YOUZHNY, Mikhail RUS vs BYE
GROSJEAN, Sebastien FRA vs ACASUSO, Jose ARG
MAYER, Florian GER vs KUNITSYN, Igor RUS
BYE vs (22)FERRERO, Juan Carlos ESP

Mikhail Youzhny is hot (in more ways than one) right now and should get past Grosjean and Ferrero to a 3rd round match with the World #2 player. Mad Professah pick: Youzhny.

(32)VERDASCO, Fernando ESP vs BYE
Q vs (wc)KUZNETSOV, Alex USA
Q vs CLEMENT, Arnaud FRA
BYE vs (2)NADAL, Rafael ESP

It's always sad when the Spaniards have to play each other early in tournaments but since there are so many of them it happens fairly regularly. Nadal more often than not gets the better of them and I expect him to do so here, to set up a grudge match with Youzhny, who has already beaten Rafa once this year. Mad Professah pick: Nadal.