Top Seeds in Stockholm Have Good Track Record
The defending champion will not be participating in this year’s tournament. Tomas Berdych had won this event two years in a row and three of the last four. The tournament should still have plenty of star power with former champions Gael Monfils and Grigor Dimitrov among the 28 player field in Sweden. The top four seeds this week are Monfils, Dimitrov, Ivo Karlovic and Alexander Zverev. in this 250-level event. The top seed has fared well in Stockholm over the past four years, with the #1 seed has taken home the title twice in that span and made the final each year.
Seeds had traditionally made up most of the semifinal field, but unseeded players have crashed that round two straight years. Stockholm has not seen an unseeded finalist since 2011, when Monfils won the title over unseeded Jarkko Nieminen. Of the top four seeds, the fourth seed has seen the most early peril. The fourth seed has lost their opening match each year from 2011 to 2015. That could be bad news for Zverev, although he is in solid form. Overall, at least one seeded player has flopped in their first match in Stockholm in each of the past four years.
With that to stick in your brain socket, let’s take a look at this week’s top eight seeds in Stockholm and look at who might be prone to that early knockout blow.
Seed Report
1. Gael Monfils
Monfils won this title back in 2011, but has returned just once since that time. That was last year, where he was beaten in his opening match by a Swedish local who was ranked in the 400s. This year, Monfils comes to Stockholm still seeking to nail down a spot in the ATP World Tour Finals. La Monf didn’t do much to aid that cause with a third round loss to David Goffin in Shanghai last week. The good news is he can do nothing but gain points this week with wins. He is still in pretty good shape in the 6th spot for the year-end Finals currently and should be able to avoid any early issues with either Gastao Elias or Ivan Dodig as his first opponent.
2. Grigor Dimitrov
Dimitrov has made a late charge back into the Top 20 in recent weeks, but comes to Stockholm off a disappointing loss to Vasek Pospisil in the second round at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. Dimitrov seems to love this tournament with a 12-4 all-time record in Stockholm. He won the title in 2013 and made the final in 2014. He has made at least the quarterfinals in his last four trips here. Dimitrov will get Benjamin Becker or Jurgen Zopp in his opener. Both pose a slight threat, but one that Dimitrov should work through.
3. Ivo Karlovic
Karlovic has not played this tournament since winning it in 2007. His last tournament was in Tokyo, where he did well with a quarterfinal loss to Monfils. Karlovic has been surprisingly average indoors with his last finals run coming in Memphis in 2014. This will be his first match indoors on a hard court since he lost in opening round play at the Paris Masters last year. Karlovic could wind up playing Fernando Verdasco in his opener. The Spaniard gets Mikael Ymer in round one. Karlovic has beaten Verdasco four of seven times they have met with the last meeting indoors way back in 2011. The Spaniard won that one.