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ATP tour and Aussies move on

Lleyton Hewitt is temporary coming out of retirement for Australia's Davis Cup showdown with USA. (AFP PHOTO/Luis Acosta)
Roar Guru
17th February, 2014
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From Memphis, Buenos Aires and Rotterdam the ATP World Tour again shifts in multiple directions as tournaments in Rio, Marseille and Delray Beach attract the attention of tennis lovers.

After wins last week to Tomas Berdych in Rotterdam, Ferrer in Buenos Aires and Nishikori in Memphis, this week the Australians are again out in force to improve on their disappointing results the week before as Hewitt, Matosevic, Ebden, Groth and Kokkinakis all take centre stage.

Kokkinakis will be the only Australian playing in Marseille this week, as he has been given a Wildcard into the tournament. Although just 17 years of age, Thanasi was rate his chances against Blaz Kavcic from Slovakia.

However if he is to get past Kavcic, he will have a very tough ask against the top seed Richard Gasquet. Tsonga, Gulbis and Seppi round out the top four seeds in the tournament as the most likely match-up is an all french affair between Tsonga and Gasquet in the Open 13 final.

Moving to Delray Beach and this is where we will see plenty of Australians in at least first round action.

After disappointing tournaments in Memphis, Ebden, Hewitt and Matosevic will all be looking for better results this time round. Sam Groth will have to pass his qualifying match against the Amercian Steve Johnson to progress into the main draw singles.

World Number 54 Marinko Matosevic will have to overcome the Belgium young gun David Goffin in an exciting first round match. Marinko went down in the first round in Memphis and will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing result.

Lleyton Hewitt will go into the tournament as the eighth seed and will play Bradley Klahn of the USA in his first round match. Hewitt reached the quarter finals of Memphis before losing a match he was expected to win against Michael Russell.

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Matthew Ebden will also have a very winnable game against Teymuraz Gabashvili in a big match for the Western Australian. A win here in Delray Beach could improve his ranking and break him into the worlds top sixty.

Tommy Haas and John Isner are the top two seeds in the tournament. However Nishikori sits as the third seed and probably the favourite after his great win in Memphis. Nishikori played a flawless tournament and defeated Ivo Karlovic in the final 6-4 7-6.

The final tournament of the week is hosted in Rio, as Rafael Nadal returns for the first time after his Australian Open disappointment in the final against Stan Wawrinka. He is the top seed in the tournament but will be closely followed by Buenos Aires winner David Ferrer, Fabio Fognini and Tommy Robredo as potential tournament threats.

All the action starts early this morning, in critical tournaments for some of the lesser known Aussies and for the Spanish bull, Rafael Nadal.

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