FOR those players wishing to remain on hard court after the Australian Open, then the Tata Open in Pune, India is the way to go. It has a long and expansive history, with Stan Wawrinka a four-time winner, and the likes of Carlos Moya, Pat Rafter and Mikhail Youzhny also past winners of the 250 event. Last year Kevin Anderson became the first non-European winner since Milos Raonic in 2012.

FAVOURITE:

Benoit Paire (France)

The number one seed will be hoping to put a disappointing loss at Auckland behind him behind, as he heads into the Tata Open as the number one seed. In that run at the ASB Classic, he knocked over the likes of Italian young gun Jannik Sinner, Australian John Millman – who pushed Roger Federer the next week – and 34th ranked Polish youngster Hubert Hurkacz before going down to fellow young gun and countryman, Ugo Humbert. Paire bowed out at Melbourne Park in the second round to Croatian Marin Cilic, who came from two sets to one down to post a five-set win. In the first round he beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany who will also be competing in India. Now 30-years-old, Paire has won three titles in his career, but reinvigorated himself last year with two of those, but all have come on clay. Last year he lost in the quarter finals, going down to countryman, Gilles Simon. He will be difficult to beat on form here and is deserving favourite. It is interesting that he has chosen to play in India over his home country of France where five top 20 players will compete.

CONTENDERS:

Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany)

An injury cloud might be hanging over the German after he was forced to retire against Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round of the Australian Open. He is such a tough competitor that he takes sets off the best players on tour and is one opponent that even the elite players do not want to come up against. Kohlschreiber did not compete in Pune last year, but has made a nomination for the 2020 event, with the now 36-year-old in the twilight of his career. He has won eight titles, but only one was on hard court all the way back in 2008. Won an ITF tournament in Bendigo in the lead-up to the Australian Open, but the only victory over a top 100 player in that run was United States’ Steve Johnson. If the German is fit and firing, he can cause some serious headaches, it will just be his match fitness against quality opposition that will be the question mark heading into Pune.

Ricardas Berankis (Lithuania)

The number two seed at Pune comes in off a shaky preparation with a straight sets loss to world number 279, Cem Ilkel at Doha, and then a second round exit at Melbourne Park following a loss to American, Sam Querrey. The 29-year-old is ranked 72nd in the world and dropped back three spots in the ATP Rankings following the loss at Melbourne Park. The Lithuanian will need to be at his best to crack through for his maiden title in the tournament, but has a fairly friendly field to do so. If he can avoid running into the top handful of players early, he can build into the tournament and get some form up and going before the pointy end of the tournament. Berankis prefers the hard courts and while he is not a huge server – standing at just 175cm – he is a consistent counter puncher who will never say die.

Ivo Karlovic (Croatia)

The likely fifth seed in the draw is now a remarkable 40-years-old, but seems to still have the serving prowess that knocked world number one Lleyton Hewitt out of the Australian Open in Round 1 all those years ago. The Croatian 211cm man mountain defeated the in-form but injury prone Vasek Pospisil in the first round of the Australian Open before falling to top 10 player, Gael Monfils in Round 2. His serving ability makes him so difficult to break, or even return his shots when on fire, but age does catch up with players and there is little doubt the big serving Croatian will eventually call time on his serviceable career. If he can take a title here in a field that lacks a really dominant player it will be good for his confidence for 2020, and he did make the final last year before going down to Anderson in three sets – all tiebreakers of course.

ROUGHIE:

James Duckworth (Australia)

The Australian talent has been a consistent top 100 player for some time, but just lacks the extra edge to crack into the top 50. His best shotplay can surprise a lot of top 30 players, but ultimately the consistency across the board is not enough to match it with those up the top of the rankings. He has had some good runs at Melbourne Park before, but bowed out in the first round of the Open despite being two sets to one up against Alijaz Bedene. He defeated Federico Delbonis in the first round of the Adelaide International in straight sets, but fell to top 25 player, Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Round of 16. If everything comes together, Duckworth can go deep in the tournament, but will likely struggle against better counter punchers such as Kohlschreiber.

DARK HORSE:

Peter Gojowczyk (Germany)

The 105th ranked German moved up 15 places following a Round 1 win at Melbourne Park after getting through the qualifiers. He beat Blaz Kavcic along the way, then toppled fellow qualifier, Chris Eubanks in the opening round before falling to 27th seed, Pablo Carreno Busta – but not before taking a set off the Spaniard. Playing in Bendigo for the lead-up to the Slam, Gojowczyk came from behind to defeat Colombian, Daniel Elahi Galan, before losing to countryman, Kohlschreiber in the second round. He has a title to his name unlike a number of others here – winning at Metz in 2017 and making two other finals in 2018. The 30-year-old is not likely to cause too many waves on the ATP Tour, but like Kohlschreiber, is still someone who is difficult to play, and unlike his fellow German, has a big serve to boot and a 74 per cent winning record on his first serve points across his career.