ATP BUENOS AIRES
Surface: Clay
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The "Golden Swing" of clay court tennis continues in South America, this time in Buenos Aires. Last week's title winner in Sao Paulo, Nicolas Almagro, is also the defending champion here. He enters as the #2 seed. David Ferrer returns to action as the top seed. Gilles Simon is again on the clay swing as the three seed and another surprising entry, Kei Nishikori is the fourth seed.

Ferrer's quarter sees him with a few potential speed bumps. He could face Leonardo Mayer in the 2nd round. Mayer is fresh off a solid week in Sao Paulo. I don't think he's consistent enough to beat someone like Ferrer, but he could certainly test him. Chela is the 8th seed in this quarter and he gets tested right out of the gate by Albert Ramos. Ramos had a very nice run in Sao Paulo last week with an impressive run to the semifinals. He'll have Chela on upset watch, although Chela made the finals here last year. Fernando Gonzalez and Albert Montanes comprise the other first round match. Gonzo's farewell tour unfortunately looks like it may be void of many wins. If Ferrer gets off to a good start, he should find this quarter workable for a semifinal birth.

Simon and Juan Monaco are the seeds in the second quarter. Simon's decision to play the South American clay tournaments still seems odd. He gets Machado first, but then could face one of the more solid clay guys in Carlos Berlocq. Simon doesn't seem a good fit here again to me. Monaco gets Filippo Volandri in the opening round. Volandri played some shockingly good tennis in Sao Paulo en route to the final where he pushed Almagro to three sets. His consistency outside of Italy is always a question though and I think fatigue along with battling a home-standing Argentine could mean a quick exit. David Nalbandian could be Monaco's second round opponent if he gets by a qualifier. Nalbandian was a victim of Volandri and looks like he might not be ready to face the grind of working all the way through a tournament just yet. He will make Monaco work though and that would be a fun match. This smells like an Argentine bracket. Berlocq or Monaco the likely winner.

The third quarter is an interesting one with Stan Wawrinka as the six seed and Nishikori as the four. Nishikori has a tough match-up against Juan Carlos Ferrero in the opening round. JCF had a tough time recovering from Davis Cup travel last week and lost to Leo Mayer early. He should stand a better chance here in perhaps the best first round match of any of the ATP tournaments this week. Pablo Andujar and Victor Hanescu face off in this quarter along with Benoit Paire being here. Wawrinka gets Zeballos and that will be a tough one for the Swiss. Is Wawrinka emotionally ready after losing in Davis Cup play? He played well in Buenos Aires last year, so if he survives the opener - he could be poised to make another run. This should come down to the victor in the JCF-Nishikori battle and Wawrinka.

The final quarter starts with Almagro as the #2 seed. Fernando Verdasco is the other seed at #7. Verdasco complained of knee pain last week in Sao Paulo, so watch him closely here. His form has been suspect to begin with, so I am not expecting much from him. An interesting first round clash here is Frederico Gil and Thomaz Bellucci. Bellucci somehow made it to the semifinals last week in Sao Paulo despite playing some very uneven tennis. That should catch up with him sooner rather than later this week. If he wins the opener, Almagro could be there to erase him. With Verdasco's status, the top portion of this quarter opens with Blaz Kavcic, a qualifier and Verdasco's first round opponent Eric Prodon in the mix. What that really does is keeps Almagro on track to make the semifinals.

Semifinals: Ferrer, Monaco, Wawrinka, Almagro
Final: Almagro over Monaco
Upset Watch: Gil over Bellucci
Player to Watch: Carlos Berlocq