The 2017 Generali Open tournament is the final clay-court ATP Tour stop before the August-September run of significant hardcourt events in North America, culminating in the U.S. Open. It’s a chance for players to log matches and collect points on a preferred surface. Anyone with significant hardcourt aspirations is either playing in Washington or resting for Canada. These players in Austria know their limitations and want to accomplish reasonable goals. Here is a look at what to expect at this week’s event in Austria. The competition in the 28-player main draw begins on Monday, July 31.
Event Details
Event: Generali Open
Category: ATP 250 Series
Date: July 31 – August 5, 2017
Location: Tennis Stadium Kitzbuhel – Kitzbuhel, Austria
With a prize money allotment of 482,000 Euros, this tournament fits right in with the standard purse allotment of other ATP 250 events. It is an event based more on surface-specific opportunity than on prestige. This pocket of clay tennis after Wimbledon is made for the clay specialists, not the elite all-surface players on tour.
Points
Champion – 250
Runner-up – 150
Semifinal – 90
Quarterfinal – 45
Former Champions and Results (5 years)
2016: Paolo Lorenzi def. Nikolaz Basilashvili 6-3, 6-4
2015: Philip Kohlschreiber def. Paul Henri-Mathieu 2-6, 6-2, 6-2
2014: David Goffin def. Dominic Thiem 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
2013: Marcel Granollers def. Juan Monaco 0-6, 7-6(3), 6-4
2012: Robin Haase def. Philip Kohlschreiber 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-2
Player Info:
Pablo Cuevas was the second seed in Hamburg but was upset by 71st-ranked Russian Andrey Kuznetsov in three hard fought sets. The Uruguayan clinched the first set with some sublime forehand winners but surprisingly lost rhythm midway through the second set. Cuevas fought and recovered but while serving to force the tiebreaker at 5-6, he couldn’t handle the nerves and broke himself to lend Kuznetsov a helping hand. In the deciding final set, Cuevas again faltered while serving to stay in the contest. At 4-5, he failed to land a first serve four times, to Kuznetsov’s delight. He was broken for the match.
Cuevas isn’t playing badly but he has failed to seize the big moments. In Kitzbuhel, he’ll get to face some of the best clay courters in the business. After a couple of failures, Cuevas will be desperate to find form.
There is David Ferrer, who makes most of his limited talent and then there is Fabio Fognini, who just ignores his abundant gifts. In the third-round match against Andy Murray at Wimbledon, Fognini was dictating most of the points but wasn’t able to finish well. He had set points against Murray in the fourth set but he managed to blow them as only he could. Fognini served for the fourth set but typically squandered that golden opportunity. The Italian may appear physically solid but he is just as mentally torn.
Last week in Umag, Fognini couldn’t handle 19-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev, who beat him in three sets in the quarterfinals. Fognini is currently playing in Gstaad. The draws hardly matter to Fognini. If he is in the right frame of mind, he can be untouchable. If he is not, he is a mess, which sadly is often the case.
David Ferrer finally broke a two-year title drought after beating Alexandr Dolgopolov on his seventh match point to win the event in Bastad. The Spaniard may never get back to his best mode of play, which carried him to a major final in 2013 at the French Open, but this win suggests Ferrer can still be competitive on tour. This is Ferrer’s 27th ATP title. It’ll not only help him climb the ranking chart but will force him to work extra hard, stay motivated, and extend his successful career.
Also here: Jan-Lennard Struff, former champion Robin Haase, Gerald Melzer, and Sebastian Ofner, a Wimbledon hero from Austria, who was granted a wildcard after Jurgen Melzer announced his withdrawal from the ATP 250 event held in his home country.
Tennis Stadium Kitzbuhel
The intimate complex nestled in mountains and rolling hills owns a centerpiece stadium court with 6,000 seats and an upper deck on one side of the court which curls around in a way that every fan, even one in the last row of that upper deck, is relatively close to the action and has a great sight line with which to view this tournament.
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