Gerald Melzer and Sergiy Stakhovsky look for good results in St Brieuc - UBITENNIS

Gerald Melzer and Sergiy Stakhovsky look for good results in St Brieuc

By Alex Burton
2 Min Read
Gerald Melzer suffered a surprise exit to home favourite Alex De Minaur at the Australian Open and his form has dropped since (Zimbio.com)

It has been a tough start to the year for the likes of Gerald Melzer and Sergiy Stakhovsky. The Austrian and the Ukrainian have both suffered tough starts to the 2017 season, and both now sit outside the Top 100. That could change quickly though if both manage to meet the seedings expectations in Saint Brieuc.

Melzer is the top seed and starts with a qualifier before a likely second round meeting with either Simone Bolelli or the big-serving Daniel Brands. Veteran Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo is the seed that Melzer is most likely to meet in the quarter-finals. The 39 year-old does not have the best record on hard courts though, preferring the clay, and he has tough matches against Laurent Lokoli and potentially Marco Chiudinelli before he can look to Melzer.

Norbert Gombos and Quentin Halys look set for a rematch just a week after they met in Miami Qualifying. Gombos edged Halys in the third set tie-break that time, and the two are seeded third and fifth respectively. Gombos will start with qualifiers and/or wildcards in his first two rounds. Halys faces James McGee in round one.

Tobias Kamke won a tight match with Pierre-Hugues Herbert in Miami Qualifying but failed to make the main draw. He is seeded eighth and would likely meet Stakhovsky in the quarter-finals if the seedings panned out. Lukas Lacko and Kenny de Schepper are the other seeds in the bottom half of the draw.

Look out for Gleb Sakhorov: The Frenchman has been picking up the odd impressive win in recent weeks, and he could continue to do so in a home event.

 

 

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