Fish, del Potro top seeds for Los Angeles ATP
Date published :
25 Jul 2011 - 00:30:25
American Mardy Fish and former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro head the field for the ATP hardcourt tournament that starts here on Monday.
Fish, the top-ranked American at No. 9 in the world, will arrive in California fresh from a victory in Atlanta, where he saved two match points en route to a victory over John Isner on Sunday.
Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, who is clawing his way back up the rankings after a wrist injury sidelined him for much of 2010, will make his first ATP start since a fourth-round exit from Wimbledon at the hands of Rafael Nadal.
Del Potro, who won the Los Angeles title in 2008, won his lone singles match in Argentina's 5-0 Davis Cup whitewash of Kazakhstan earlier this month.
After his breakthrough Grand Slam triumph at Flushing Meadows in 2009, Del Potro was limited to three tournaments by his wrist injury in 2010 and saw his ranking tumble from fourth in the world to 485 in January.
He arrives at the tournament on the courts at the University of California at Los Angeles back in the top 20 at number 19.
Fish, del Potro, third seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus and fourth seed Thomaz Bellucci all have first round byes.
The remaining four seeded positions went to Belgian veteran Xavier Malisse at No. 5, Russian Dmitry Tursunov (6), Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov (7) and Russian Igor Kunitsyn (8).
A notable absentee is American Sam Querrey, winner of the title in 2009 and 2010. Querrey is still recovering from elbow surgery in June, and won't get a chance to join Fred Perry and Don Budge as the only players to three-peat in Los Angeles.
Late additions to the field included the last direct acceptance James Blake, as well as wild cards for two-time champion Tommy Haas of Germany, American Robby Ginepri and 2011 US collegiate champion Steve Johnson.
Johnson faces a first-round clash with Luxembourg veteran Gilles Muller, who reached the final four in Atlanta. The winner of that match will face Fish in the second round.
Nineteen-year-old Ryan Harrison earned a spot in the main draw as a special exempt by reaching the Atlanta semi-finals.
In Atlanta, Harrison became the first US teenager to reach an ATP semi-final since Querrey at Indianapolis in 2007.
Harrison will open his Los Angeles campaign against another young talent in 21-year-old Lithuanian Richard Berankis.
"I'm excited to get the special exempt into LA," Harrison said after bowing out in the semi-finals in Atlanta. "I hope to keep up this level. Even if I lost, I'm feeling confident.
"I'm ready for LA. I'll be out there on Sunday and preparing for the first round."
