San Jose

Surface: Indoor Hard Court

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Milos Raonic is the returning champion here and San Jose also marks the return of Andy Roddick to the court for the firsr time since he retired at the Australian Open. This tournament has been great for Roddick in the past. He's 32-6 here, but has not played it since 2010. Monfils serves as the top seed here, but his health is questionable as he say out as a reserve in Davis Cup play this past weekend due to a knee issue. Stepanek is the #4 seed. There are a lot of injury question marks and Davis Cup hangovers potentially here in this draw.

Monfils gets a first round bye and that will give him some additional rest before he faces one of the qualifiers in round two. Olivier Rochus is the other seed in this quarter. If Monfils is healthy, he should be in position to make the semifinals here. It will be wide open in the other half of the quarter though with Rochus, Ryan Harrison, Robby Ginepri and Xavier Malisse. Any one of those guys could be his opponent. This used to be a great surface for Malisse, but he's had some injury issues already with arm problems and he's had nagging problems that have dogged him since last Fall. Harrison's inexperience on this surface and potential jetlag from Davis Cup participation in Switzerland is a concern for him. Still, Rochus is not unbeatable by any means. Ginepri may have the best "form" of these guys, but he's been toiling on the Challenger circuit so far this season and may or may not be ready to win at the ATP level. It really is a crapshoot down here. If Monfils is healthy, this should be an easy path for him. That however, is a large question mark.

The second quarter features Raonic and another big hitter in Kevin Anderson as the other seed. Anderson goes up against Dimitrov in the first round which should be a good match. Dimitrov is capable on this surface, but has yet to prove his consistency at this level. Still, if he serves well, an upset is not out of the question. The rest of the quarter is littered with more "tweeners" who rotate from Challenger to ATP level like Van Der Merwe, Kamke and Ebden. Getting the first round bye should help Raonic recover from Davis Cup play this weekend. No reason to believe he doesn't make it out of this quarter.

In the third quarter, you've got Stepanek as the top seed at #4 with Benneteau on the other side. Stepanek has had good runs here before, but lost in the first round in his last visit in 2010. His results on indoor surfaces over the past two years have been pretty average or below average. He likely will face Darcis in the second round. Darcis could give him some trouble. Benneteau draws Sweeting first up and based on Sweeting's terrible performance in Dallas, I'd say Benneteau should make it through although he may have a Davis Cup hangover to contend with as well. Gilles Muller's big serve may be waiting for either guy in the second round. Even though Muller is off to a poor start in 2012, his serve always makes him dangerous on these quick surfaces. I think the extra rest getting the bye could help Stepanek here, but I won't be surprised if someone besides him sneaks out of this quarter,

In the last quarter, you've got Andy Roddick and Donald Young as the seeds. They've littered this quarter with American players, including Sam Querrey and the youngster Jack Sock. This quarter really reads a Who's Who of failed expectations, injury issues and confidence questions. Young's half of the draw has him up against Michael Russell first. Outside of his run in Bangkok last season, Young hasn't done much on this surface and it's not really one that is conducive to someone without a major weapon to exploit on opponents. Istomin and Querrey meet in the other first rounder here in what is sure to be a battle of inconsistency. That is a match Querrey needs to get to start rebuilding his confidence after crashing out early in the Dallas Challenger. Roddick and Sock could meet in the second if Sock gets past a qualifier. Assuming Roddick is healthy, this is a quarter he can take with relative ease unless one of the other question marks straightens up and finds their game.

Semifinalists: Monfils, Raonic, Stepanek, Roddick
Finals: Raonic over Roddick
Player to Watch: Steve Darcis
Upset Watch: Russell over Young