The Mercedes Cup is Stuttgart should be won by the greatest grass court player of all time in Roger Federer as the event will have pulled out all the stops financially to secure a real star name like it did last year in eventual champion Rafa Nadal's three million appearance sweetener.
Federer withdrew from Rolland Garros with back injury and at 11/8 is not for me in his first tournament back and with Halle & Wimbledon further up his priority list so we concentrate on The Ricoh Open in Hertongenbosch for the Men and Woman's joint event where their is far greater value on offer.
ATP Ricoh Open
Top seed David Ferrer at 6/1 has won here twice in 2008 and 2012 but he has looked a spent force of late and on his weakest surface is opposed this week.
Tournament favourite Ivo Karlovic is at 4/1 and third seed in Rosmalen.
He is back fit again after playing a few games on clay but this is his most effective surface and has a decent chance of taking the title with a bit of luck in tiebreaks this week and if negotiating a way past Gilles Muller who excels on this surface. This pair meet in round one and could end 7-6 6-7 7-6 either way.
Preference however is for the second favourite Bernard Tomic, the 23 year old Aussie reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon as a teenager in 2011 and can cause the top ten in the world plenty of problems on this surface.
Tomic rarely puts any effort into the clay swing in fact he is dreadful on the red terrain but showed he was in good heart with a straight sets formality in round one at the French Open and made a good four set fight against teenage star Borna Coric which he can use as positives and momentum with his intensity levels shown coming into the grass swing. The grass is a different matter for Tomic and he will fancy a fourth career ATP title looking at the opposition in this field.
The fourth seed is 9/2 with Paddy Power where he sits in the easier half of the draw so it is Tomic who is my selection ahead of Karlovic and fellow big servers in defending champion Nicolas Mahut 7/1( 100/1 last year), Gilles Muller 9/1 and Sam Querrey 9/1.
WTA Ricoh Open
Top seed Belinda Bencic at 5/1 is the favourite for this event. The talented Swiss withdrew prior to the French Open with a back injury and now comes into a favoured part of the season. The teenage starlet has had a season plagued with injury so far as well as lack of form and Bencic will be under pressure here to defend finals points from last year.
Coco Vandeweghe won here in 2014 and goes very well on grass. The American powerhouse possesses a huge serve and big ground strokes and leads the head to head series with Bencic 2-1 including a win this year in Doha on quick hard court conditions. Coco reached the Latter stages of Wimbledon last year and can win back her title here in Hertogenbosch where 8/1 with Bet365 very much appeals in what isn't a strong field.
Recommendations
ATP Ricoh Open - Bernard Tomic to win Outright @ 7/1 Bet Victor.
WTA Ricoh Open - Coco Vandeweghe to win Outright @ 8/1 Bet365. (WINNER)
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