The first clay-court ATP World Tour tournaments of the year are set to kick off in the weekend in Houston and Marrakech.
The US Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston is the only clay-court ATP tournament taking place in the USA. Previously played on har-tru (green clay), the event switched to red clay in 2008. Four of the last seven editions were won by a home player (Sweeting, Isner, Sock, Johnson); Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Andre Agassi and Michael Chang are between the past champions as well. Steve Johnson is the defending champion.
The Grand Prix Hassan II in Morocco will take place in Marrakech for the third time, after a relocation from Casablanca in 2016. Croatia’s Borna Coric will not be able to defend last year’s title, as he has withdrawn from the event. The tournament saw a home player triumphing just twice: Hicham Harazi won in 1997 and Younes El Aynaoui in 2002.
ATP Houston (USA, Red Clay Outdoor), entry list:
OUT Anderson, Kevin RSA 8
2 Sock, Jack USA 10
3 Querrey, Sam USA 11
4 Isner, John USA 19
5 Verdasco, Fernando ESP 27
OUT Chung, Hyeon KOR 29
OUT Lopez, Feliciano ESP 38
8 Johnson, Steve USA 47
9 Pella, Guido ARG 57
10 Sandgren, Tennys USA 58
11 Harrison, Ryan USA 60
12 Tiafoe, Frances USA 61
13 Zeballos, Horacio ARG 69
14 Fritz, Taylor USA 77
15 Karlovic, Ivo CRO 80
16 Young, Donald USA 89
17 Thompson, Jordan AUS 92
OUT Millman, John AUS 93
19 Kicker, Nicolas ARG 96
OUT Chardy, Jeremy FRA 97
OUT Lacko, Lukas SVK 101
22 WC Kyrgios, Nick AUS 24
23 WC Brown, Dustin GER 152
24 WC McDonald, Mackenzie USA 140
25 [Q]
26 [Q]
27 [Q]
28 [Q]
Alternates:
IN Daniel, Taro JPN 107
IN Fratangelo, Bjorn USA 111
IN Kavcic, Blaz SLO 116
IN Escobedo, Ernesto USA 123
IN Smyczek, Tim USA 126
IN Laaksonen, Henri SUI 127
1. Brown, Dustin GER 130
2. Berlocq, Carlos ARG 131
3. Polansky, Peter CAN 139
4. McDonald, Mackenzie USA 140
ATP Houston (USA, Red Clay Outdoor), Qualifying:
1 Norrie, Cameron GBR 105
OUT Fratangelo, Bjorn USA 109
OUT Daniel, Taro JPN 111
OUT Escobedo, Ernesto USA 114
OUT Smyczek, Tim USA 117
OUT Polansky, Peter CAN 126
OUT Kavcic, Blaz SLO 127
OUT Laaksonen, Henri SUI 132
9 Berlocq, Carlos ARG 134
10 Bellucci, Thomaz BRA 135
OUT McDonald, Mackenzie USA 143
12 Kudla, Denis USA 144
OUT Paul, Tommy USA 159
14 Klahn, Bradley USA 163
15 WC Nishioka, Yoshihito JPN 379
16 [WC]
Alternates:
IN Novikov, Dennis USA 164
IN Kozlov, Stefan USA 167
IN Santillan, Akira JPN 170
IN King, Darian BAR 172
IN Mmoh, Michael USA 176
IN Kecmanovic, Miomir 179
OUT Olivo, Renzo ARG 184
IN King, Evan USA 188
IN Opelka, Reilly USA 204
IN Krueger, Mitchell USA 207
1. Harrison, Christian USA 217
2. Koepfer, Dominik GER 225
3. Smith, John-Patrick AUS 236
4. Collarini, Andrea ARG 238
5. Skugor, Franko CRO 280
ATP Marrakech (MAR, Red Clay Outdoor), entry list:
1 Ramos-Vinolas, Albert ESP 22
2 Edmund, Kyle GBR 25
OUT Dzumhur, Damir BIH 30
4 Kohlschreiber, Philipp GER 33
OUT Krajinovic, Filip SRB 34
OUT Monfils, Gael FRA 35
7 Gasquet, Richard FRA 37
8 Haase, Robin NED 43
9 Paire, Benoit FRA 46
10 Dolgopolov, Alexandr UKR 48
OUT Coric, Borna CRO 50
12 Lorenzi, Paolo ITA 53
13 Zverev, Mischa GER 54
14 Struff, Jan-Lennard GER 56
15 Seppi, Andreas ITA 62
16 Vesely, Jiri CZE 63
17 Fucsovics, Marton HUN 64
OUT Delbonis, Federico ARG 65
19 Troicki, Viktor SRB 66
20 Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 67
21 Simon, Gilles FRA 68
22 Marterer, Maximilian GER 71
23 Sousa, Joao POR 72
24 Basic, Mirza BIH 76
25 Fabbiano, Thomas ITA 78
26 [WC]
27 [WC]
28 [WC]
29 [Q]
30 [Q]
31 [Q]
32 [Q]
Alternates:
IN Carballes Baena, Roberto ESP 79
IN Basilashvili, Nikoloz GEO 84
IN Albot, Radu MDA 86
IN Berrettini, Matteo ITA 104
IN Andujar, Pablo ESP @105
1. Dutra-Silva, Rogerio BRA 106
2. Baghdatis, Marcos CYP 112
3. Menendez-Maceiras ESP 114
4. Halys, Quentyn FRA 115
ATP Marrakech (MAR, Red Clay Outdoor), Qualifying:
OUT Tsitsipas, Stefanos GRE 70
OUT Carballes Baena, Roberto ESP 78
OUT Basilashvili, Nikoloz GEO 89
OUT Albot, Radu MDA 93
OUT Djere, Laslo SRB 94
OUT Berrettini, Matteo ITA 95
OUT Dutra-Silva, Rogerio BRA 115
8 Ivashka, Ilya BLR 122
9 De Minaur, Alex AUS 130
10 Moutet, Corentin FRA 138
11 Hemery, Calvin FRA 150
12 Gerasimov, Egor BLR 154
13 Vatutin, Alexey RUS 157
14 Robredo, Tommy ESP 158
15 [WC]
16 [WC]
Alternates:
IN Caruso, Salvatore ITA 177
IN Gulbis, Ernests LAT 190
IN Lopez Perez, Enrique ESP 199
IN Millot, Vincent FRA 219
OUT Safwat, Mohamed EGY 220
IN Arnaboldi, Andrea ITA 223
OUT Safranek, Vaclav CZE 228
IN Martinez, Pedro ESP 226
OUT Kolar, Zdenek CZE 228
IN Rubin, Noah USA 233
1. Lestienne, Constant FRA 234
