DESPITE being a ATP250 event, the Open 13 Provence in Marseille has attracted a stronger field than its ATP500 counterpart in Rio de Janeiro. Six players inside the top 20 have announced their intentions, including reigning champion Stefanos Tsitsipas and world number five, Daniil Medvedev, with Portugal’s Joao Sousa the lowest ranked automatic entry at 59th in the world.

FAVOURITE:

Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE)

The 2019 champion returns to Marseille and will be looking to go back-to-back with the French title being the second of his career 12 months ago. He now has four to his name, including the ATP Finals, and has become a superb player on hard court where he will look to take advantage in this draw. A lot of his key opponents are out of form, with Medvedev losing in the first round at Rotterdam, Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime in and out of form, and Fabio Fognini also having a tough time in 2020. Realistically, Tsitsipas is the standout prospect in the draw, with the likes of David Goffin and three-time winner Jo-Wilfried Tsonga his biggest challenges.

CONTENDERS:

Daniil Medvedev (RUS)

The top seed Russian might be out of form – having not gone as deep as he would have liked in the Australian Open and bowed out first round against Vasek Pospisil in Rotterdam this week – but he is still a dangerous opponent on any given day. He plays on his favoured hard court and a final of the future stars in Medvedev and Tsitsipas would be a delight. He will want to have a favourable draw to start with in order to warm into the event, not running into anyone in good form like he did with Pospisil. He could genuinely make a challenge for a top three spot in the rankings this year, but needs to start chalking up the wins early in the season.

David Goffin (BEL)

Just a reliable player from tournament to tournament and he too would be disappointed by his loss to Pospisil two tournaments back. He should have made it to the Montpellier final but fell at the last hurdle, though his form outside of that has been really solid. Aside from losing to the red-hot Andrey Rublev at Melbourne Park, Goffin’s 2020 season has been fruitful, defeating then world number one Rafael Nadal at the ATP Cup, showing he can beat anyone on his day. Form wise, Goffin deserves second favourite status, and it will be interesting to see how he fares against one of the top six players if he runs into them here in Marseille.

Felix Auger-Aliassime

With the withdrawal from the injured Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Auger-Aliassime becomes a genuine top three contender in the draw, seeded seventh in the world. At the time of publishing, the Canadian 19-year-old had reached the final at Rotterdam and had four his top form once again. Still inconsistent, Auger-Aliassime has a lot of upside going forward and is one you cannot ignore because he can step up against more experienced opponents and cause some serious headaches.

ROUGHIE:

Gilles Simon (FRA)

Tsonga’s compatriot, Simon is a quiet achiever who just gets things done. He is a past winner here in 2007 and 2015, and many might forget just how good the 35-year-old once was. He has only won two tournaments since his 2015 triumph and of his 14 titles, nine came prior to his 26th birthday. He keeps running into Frenchmen at tournaments, going down to Jeremy Chardy in Adelaide and Richard Gasquet in Marseille, while he took a set off Nick Kyrgios in Melbourne before going down in four sets. Simon is coming towards the end of his underrated career, but he has good form here and would very much love to equal Tsonga and Swede Thomas Enqvist as the most successful players in Marseille.

DARK HORSE:

Mikhail Kukushkin

A true dark horse as a player not automatically making it through to the main draw, the Kazakhstan player made it all the way through to the final last year. Only just falling to eventual winner Tsitsipas 7-5 7-6, Kukushkin defeated Humbert, Rublev and Denis Shapovalov on his way to the final, so did it tough but conquered every challenge along the way. Would be a big ask for him to back up that kind of performance, but points are on the line to defend so he has to go as deep as he can.