Preview

The first Grand Slam of the season in Australia may be over, but the ATP tour moves forward although many of the top 10 will not be competing this week.

This gives some of those players just outside that position and further down the rankings to improve and perhaps give themselves an opportunity to earn automatic qualification into the 2 Masters tournaments coming up in March.

The top 2 seeds here are Gael Monfils and David Ferrer, 2 established players in the top 20 of the World before a sharp drop off in terms of ranking players.

Monfils is in the top half of the draw where his biggest threat is likely to come from the number 3 seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain. The two players are not scheduled to meet until the Semi Finals.

Before that potential meeting, Monfils is likely to have to beat Jarkko Nieminen. The Finnish player has had his best years, but is still a tough player to play, especially as he is left-handed.

Feliciano Lopez had a solid tournament in Australia and showed some of his old form which suggests he could be a threat here on the fast surface of South Africa. He seems to have a straight-forward route to a Semi Final place although his toughest hurdle may be to overcome the 1st round, a familiar hurdle that he failed to overcome last season.

David Ferrer is the top seed on the bottom half of the draw and there does not seem to be too many obstacles blocking his path to the Final this season. However, there is still a question mark over his form, as he suffered a 2nd round defeat in Australia while losing the other 2 matches he has played this season.

The toughest match up for the Spaniard is the potential Quarter Final with Xavier Malisse, who holds a 2-1 head to head record over Ferrer and has won a number of matches this season, mainly in the Qualification rounds of tournaments.

Feliciano Lopez holds the head to head advantage over both David Ferrer (6-3 and won 4 of their last 5 meetings) and Xavier Malisse (2-0).

Prediction

The week after a Grand Slam event can be tough to predict and can see a number of surprising results.

For this tournament, I will tip Feliciano Lopez to raise only his 2nd ATP title. He favours hard courts, and the South African court was playing fast last season which will only add to the Lopez game.

His biggest test will be getting beyond the 1st round in my opinion, and he has been known to pick up momentum as he moves through a tournament.

The potential match with Gael Monfils in the Semi Final will be tough, although I have a sneaky feeling the Frenchman may not get to that point.

Lopez has a very strong head to head record against the players most likely to come out of the bottom half and his game matches up well against both Ferrer and Malisse.

Feliciano Lopez to win the South African Tennis Open.

The Pick :

Feliciano Lopez to win tournament

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Feliciano Lopez WIN @ 9.0 (Bet365)