This week there are five more tournaments being played with three of those on the clay courts and two on the hard courts. One of those takes place in Atlanta where the first of the North American hard court events that counts towards the US Series begins on Monday.
Next week will be an ATP 500 event in Washington before back to back Masters tournaments in Canada and Cincinnati as we will quickly move into the US Open. It will be interesting to see the kind of names that perhaps pull out of the US Open with doubts about both Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, while we will all wait to see when Maria Sharapova is going to be back in action who will be needing a Wild Card to enter the US Open main draw.
The news story run by the US Open itself suggests Sharapova will be welcomed into the Qualifiers, which she has the Ranking for, but I'd be surprised if she is given a Wild Card into the main draw. That's for another day though and the focus this week is on the tournaments being played in Atlanta, Bastad, Gstaad, Hamburg and Nanchang.
Last week was a decent one for the picks, although not a really strong one like I would have wanted. A winning week is a winning week, but I am looking to put some momentum behind the picks to head into the bigger tournaments ahead this summer before the US Open gets underway.
Facundo Bagnis v Yannick Hanfmann: Two really impressive wins in the Qualifiers from Yannick Hanfmann has helped him enter the main draw in Gstaad, but I am not sure why he is the favourite to win this match. He is playing a clay court specialist in Facundo Bagnis who is considerably higher up in the World Rankings, but the numbers seem to favour Bagnis too.
There has been a lack of tennis played by Hanfmann at the main ATP level but he has gone 3-2 in those matches this year, 2-1 on the clay courts. That's not bad, but you can't ignore the fact that Hanfmann doesn't play the better players on the Tour regularly, although he may feel this match against Bagnis is more in line with the type of competition he faces.
This year has not been a great one for Bagnis in terms of the results, but his numbers have generally been quite steady despite the wins not coming as frequently as they did in 2016. Hanfmann has been able to look after his serve effectively which makes him dangerous in this one, especially when you see how much the players at the Challenger Tour have had difficulties against him.
The return game hasn't been bad either, but I think Bagnis is more than capable of earning the 'upset' in a match where I may have slightly favoured him to be honest. It will likely be a close match and I do think Hanfmann is capable, but I just wouldn't have him as the favourite and I think Bagnis can do enough to make these odds against quotes count with a victory on Monday.
MY PICKS: Facundo Bagnis @ 2.10 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Season 2017: - 32.36 Units (1460 Units Staked, - 2.22% Yield)
Season 2016: - 5.64 Units (2013 Units Staked, - 0.00% Yield)
Season 2015: - 21.81 Units (1812 Units Staked, - 1% Yield)
Season 2014: + 45.05 Units (1586.5 Units Staked, + 2.84% Yield)
Season 2014: + 45.05 Units (1586.5 Units Staked, + 2.84% Yield)
Season 2013: + 21.74 Units (1251.5 Units Staked, + 1.73% Yield)
Season 2012: + 49.21 Units (855 Units Staked, + 5.76% Yield)
Season 2011: + 82.02 Units
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