The little yellow ball will return to action on the courts of Nice LTC from May 18 to 24 for the 2014 edition of a high-level Open Nice Côte d’Azur. A field already elevated with the presence of many French players and one last surprise to come with the final wild card yet to be distributed. Late in the morning, the draw for the main draw will take place in the presence of authorities.
Unless there is a last-minute withdrawal or injury, there will be a great lineup this week on the Nice clay courts. In the main draw, we will have to contend with two players currently in the Top 15, the American John Isner and the Canadian Milos Raonic. But the favorites of the Open will undoubtedly be the French players, forming a strong French lineup led by the local star, Gilles Simon, as well as his compatriots Nicolas Mahut, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Julien Benneteau, and Kenny De Schepper.
To reach the semifinals or even the final, they will have to face an exceptional contingent of foreigners: Latvian Ernests Gulbis, with 5 titles including one at the start of 2014 in Marseille, Canadian prodigy Vasek Pospisil who made a splash at the Montreal Masters 1000, Russian Dmitry Tursunov with 7 titles to his name, Spanish 2013 winner Albert Montanes freshly crowned in Casablanca, as well as Carlos Berlocq, Andrey Golubev, or Robin Haase…
Regarding the qualifications, starting today and free for the public, nine French players will be present on the courts of the Nice Lawn Tennis Club tomorrow morning from 9 AM.
The young Gianni Mina will have a tough opening match against the American giant Sam Querrey, while Lucas Pouille will face the experienced Devvarman. There will also be second-round matches starting at 1 PM.
Game(s), set(s), and match(es) can begin on the hill of the Parc Impérial de Nice.
Today’s matches
Sam Querrey (USA) – Gianni Mina (France)
Alexandre Massa (France) – Romain Arnéodo (Monaco)
Marton Vaisse (France) – Ante Pavic (Croatia)
Sergei Bubka (Ukraine) – Albert Ramos (Spain)
Leonardo Mayer (Argentina) – Florent Serra (France)
Victoir Crivoi (Romania) – Gonzalo Lama (Chile)
Yann Marti (Switzerland) – Deniis Novak (Austria)
Jonathan Gomont (France) – Pierre-Hugues Herbert (France)
Jack Sock (USA) – Salvatore Caruso (Italy)
Christian Mohs (Germany) – Simone Vagnozzi (Italy)
Axel Michon (France) – Antoine Veic (Croatia)
Elias Ymer (Sweden) – Albano Olivetti (France)
Donald Young (USA) – Walter Trusendi (Italy)
Benjamin Balleret (Monaco) – James Mc Gee (Ireland)
Robby Ginepri (USA) – Mate Pavic (Croatia)
Lucas Pouille (France) – Somdev Devvarman (India)
COMPETITION SCHEDULE
Saturday, May 17: Qualifications (9:30 AM until the end of matches) – Free entry
Sunday, May 18: End of qualifications (10:30 AM) Start of 1st round (3 PM)
Monday, May 19: 1st round (11 AM until the end of matches)
Tuesday, May 20: End of the 1st round singles & Round of 16 (11 AM until the end of matches)
Wednesday, May 21: Round of 16 (11 AM until the end of matches)
Thursday, May 22: Quarterfinals (11:30 AM until the end of matches)
Friday, May 23: Semifinals (2:30 PM until the end of matches)
Saturday, May 24: Doubles final (12 PM) Singles final (2:30 PM)
TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE
SINGLES
The singles matches will be played as the best of 3 sets, with a tiebreak in all three sets.
The main singles draw will consist of 28 players, 19 automatically admitted based on their ATP ranking, 2 “special exempts,” 4 from qualifying, and up to 3 with a wild card.
The 8 players chosen as seeds will be designated according to their ATP ranking, one week before the start of the tournament.
The singles qualifying draw, which will start on Saturday, May 17, and end the next day, Sunday, will consist of 32 players, 28 automatically admitted based on their ATP ranking, and 4 with a wild card.
DOUBLES
All doubles matches will be played as the best of 3 sets with a 10-point super tiebreak in the third. Additionally, the deciding point will be applied at 40-A throughout the match.
The main doubles draw will consist of 16 teams, 14 automatically admitted based on their ATP ranking (14 days before the start of the tournament) and 2 with a wild card.
The 4 teams chosen as seeds will be designated according to their ATP ranking (in doubles) one week before the start of the tournament.
There is no qualifying event for doubles.
