David Goffin is the number one seed among six other players to be ranked inside the top 50 at the BMW Open by FWU AG this year. Germans are well represented this week with nine players in the main draw.
Tournament overview
The BMW Open by FWU AG is the first of four tournaments to be held in Germany on the ATP World Tour circuit, Bavaria’s picturesque capital city of Munich. The International Championships of Bavaria was first held in 1900, but the BMW Open by FWU AG was first staged at Munich’s Iphitos Tennis Club in 1974. Since then, Germans have won this tournament six times, with Tommy Haas recently becoming champion in 2013, which had it's first all-German final since 1965.
First Quarter
Number one seed David Goffin headlines this quarter. This section includes 25-year-old German qualifier Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, ranked 1756, 35-year old Victor Estrella Burgos, Lukas Rosol, Denis Istomin, Malek Jaziri and German rising star, Alexander Zverev. The winner of Stebe and Estrella Burgos face David Goffin.
Other matches include Rosol and Istomin, while Jaziri faces Zverev. David Goffin should come through this section, but if he was to face Zverev he could be troubled despite it not being the 18-year old's preferred surface.
Quarterfinal Predictions: Goffin - Zverev
Semifinalist: Goffin
Second Quarter
Third seed Dominic Thiem is the headline player in this quarter. Sixth seed Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci is at the bottom of the section. He faces Mikhail Youzhny. Wildcard Mischa Zverev faces Colombian Santiago Giraldo and Ivan Dodig faces Ernests Gulbis.
Thiem should comfortably sail through this quarter having already won a title in Buenos Aires in February on clay, although he struggled in Monte-Carlo. If Bellucci can pull it together, he can be a tricky opponent against one of the hottest players on the circuit this year in Thiem.
Quarterfinal Predictions: Thiem - Bellucci
Semifinalist: Thiem
Third Quarter
Top seed Philipp Kohlschreiber headlines this section with four other Germans in this quarter. Seventh seed Vasek Pospisil will face Jan-Lennard Struff, who will be a tricky opponent for the Canadian, who's least favoured surface is Clay. Juan Martin Del Potro took a wildcard to be here and will face Dustin Brown, a quick player with lots of flare and skill, who will have the backing of the home crowd.
Two qualifiers go up against one another: Matthias Bachinger and Florian Mayer, who has been struggling with injury ever since picking up a groin injury. He dropped to number 268 in the rankings following a long time out of the game. Kohlschreiber made the semifinal in Barcelona last week and will look to go all the way this week in his home tournament.
Quarterfinal Predictions: Kohlschreiber - Del Potro
Semifinalist: Kohlschreiber
Fourth Quarter
Two seed Gael Monfils headlines this quarter and recieved a bye to the second round. Five seed Fabio Fognini goes up against 20-year old wildcard Maximilian Marterer, Mikhail Kukushkin faces Evgeny Donskoy and Marco Cecchinato faces Igor Sijsling.
Gael Monfils' plan is to win Roland Garros and to do that he will need every match on clay to count and will be looking to win this tournament in the build up. The Frenchman will face either Cecchinato or Sijsling in the second round and it should be a formality, although were he to face Fabio Fognini in the quarterfinals, then that could be the stand out match of the tournament, with the Italian hot and cold.
Quarterfinal Predictions: Monfils - Fognini
Semifinalist: Monfils
Semifinals: Thiem def. Goffin, Monfils def. Kohlschreiber
Final: Monfils def. Thiem