Preview: Interwetten Austrian Open Kitzbuhel

City: Kitzbuhel, Austria
Surface: Outdoor Clay
Championship Points: 250
2008 Singles Champion: Nicolay Davydenko
2008 Doubles Champions: Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa

Nikolay Davydenko will defend his title and is also the top seed. The Russian has been playing pretty well this clay-court season since his return from injury. Second-seed Jurgen Melzer is also playing pretty well this season and should do well in front of his hometown audience. Mikhail Youzhny, who is the seventh-seed, should go deep in the draw. He is on Melzer’s side of the draw, and the two could meet in the quarterfinals.

There are other players who have had good tournaments, but there is still a lot of inconsistency, so it will be interesting to see who steps up this week.

Tournament Draw
Singles / Doubles

And The Qualifiers Are . . .
Mario Ancic (CRO) def. Alexander Peya (AUT) 6-2 6-3
Robin Vik (CZE) def. Julien Benneteau (FRA) 6-4 7-6(5)
Nicolas Lapentti (ECU) def. Paul Capdeville (CHI) 5-5 Ret’d
Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) def. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP) 7-6(4) 7-6(4)

Singles First Round
5 Martin Vassallo Arguello (ARG) def. Christophe Rochus (BEL) 6-2 6-4
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) def. Bjorn Phau (GER) 6-3 6-2

Monday’s Order of Play

(Image: Deco Pires)