Open 13 Provence 2020: 3 players to keep tabs on
Along with the Rio Open in Brazil, another ATP tournament which got underway on the 17th of February is the Open 13 Provence tournament. The city of Marseille, France is playing the host to this tournament where the top tennis players of the world are competing against each other on clay courts.
There is a small break in the hard court season as for two weeks, the players will play on the clay surfaces now. This competition has three top-10 players while six players from top-20 of the ATP rankings have enrolled their names. Hence, the French tennis fans will witness some high quality tennis matches this week. Here are the 3 players to watch out for in the Open 13 Provence 2020.
#3 Benoit Paire
French tennis star, Benoit Paire has managed to stay in the Top 20 of the ATP rankings however, when it comes to winning the championships, the 30-year-old has found little success. He has only won 3 singles titles in his career since he turned professional in 2007.
Since this tournament will happen on clay courts, Paire will look to take maximum advantage of the home support he receives. The right-handed player had reached the fourth round of French Open in 2019 which shows that he can play well at home clay courts.
#2 Stefanos Tsitsipas
Former Australian Open finalist, Stefanos Tsitsipas is not the favourite to win this tournament but the second-seeded Greek player can be backed to perform well in Marseille. He holds the number six position in ATP rankings which reflects that he has been very impressive on the tour during the past few months.
With the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic not playing in this tournament, Tsitsipas has the golden opportunity of winning an ATP singles title. Besides, he will even play in the men's doubles tournament with his brother Petros Tsitsipas.
#1 Daniil Medvedev
After suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Vasek Pospisil at the ATP Rotterdam Open, Daniil Medvedev will look to get back on the winning track in the Open 13 Provence 2020. He has the caliber to win this tournament however, his clay court record does not back him much.
He has crashed out of the first round of French Open for 3 successive years (2017-19) and the Russian will face stiff competition from the clay-court specialist European players taking part in this tourney. It will be intriguing to see if Medvedev can live up to the tag of the numero uno seed or he crashes out early just like Rotterdam.
Also read | Open 13 Provence: Live stream details, TV schedule and more