CONTINUING our Draft Central fantasy tennis coverage, this week sees the ATP Tour Lyon Open in France, with plenty of quality names headlining ahead of the Roland Garros in just over a week’s time.

FAVOURITE

Diego Schwartzman (ARG)

The Argentinian talent has had some good form in recent tournaments, and heading into the Lyon Open as the second seed will surely do him some favours, skipping the Round of 32 entirely in his pursuit for the title. Schwartzman has a couple quality names in his quarter of the draw, but has plenty of consistency and confidence to run them down so should not be feeling too worried in this scenario. Schwartzman is the highest ranked clay courter of the lot, meaning he is ultimately the one to beat here.

CONTENDERS

Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO)

The 28-year-old will be a tough competitor here, coming in as fifth seed and with a solid few months behind him on the clay. While clay is not his preferred surface, Basilashvili has proved to be a quality talent and when he is on song he can be a real tough battle to pass. His real test will be if he makes it to the semi-final, with the potential to face the favourite in Schwartzman.

Filip Krajinovic (SER)

Serbian, Krajinovic will have a tough task ahead of him here, and while he is a quality clay courter has a couple of tough battles if he intends on proceeding through to the semi-finals. That being said, Krajinovic has the ability to pull some quality wins out of the bag and should not be underestimated, with a strong forehand and some real consistency leading up to this tournament.

Gael Monfils (FRA)

The 33-year-old Frenchman Monfils may not be known for his clay court dominance but is always a tough contender, and despite not having the greatest impact across the season so far he comes in as top seed at Lyon. He will relish having a bye in the first round, but has some quality unseeded names in his draw so will need to be at his best against names that have seen plenty of success in recent years.

ROUGHIE

Jo Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)

Another quality Frenchman, Tsonga has winning experience at Lyon so will be a tough one to come up against even if just for that title. While the 2017 win is the only clay title to his name, Tsonga has a similar clay ranking to his first competitor in Matteo Berrettini and ranks higher than both the potential Round of 16 competitors he could come up against, giving him a solid chance of at least making the quarter finals if he can get past the Italian.

DARK HORSE

Juan Martin del Potro (ARG)

Del Potro may be a qualifier but he is highly ranked on clay court and is certainly in with a chance here if he can overcome a couple of quality competitors – namely seeds in Monfils and Fabio Fognini who has had a solid few months on clay. Ranked upwards of 100, del Potro will need to have a stellar run to contest for the title but is well in with a chance if he can overcome the aforementioned talent, with plenty of winning experience under his belt.