Lyon Preview-Catch up.

Hey everyone...there's nothing too big going on this week, we've got three fairly good tournaments(Lyon, Basel, St. Petersburg).  We do have Fed in action in his hometown tournament, which will probably take up the majority of the tennis buzz.

First off, here are all draws and scores that you want HERE.  (that's all three tournaments)

It's too repetitive and tedious to give you everything from all three tournaments going on all at once, so I'll do Lyon today, and then Basel and St. Petersburg tomorrow.  When the draws get smaller(right around the quarters) I'll do them all at once.  Fed won in three sets to Bobby Reynolds...that's the only interesting fact in the other two tournaments anyway so far.  OK so thats out of the way...

LYON:  Lets start here...so the only people worth mentioning that qualified are the thick Frenchmen, Thierry Ascione, and the tiny warrior, Christophe Rochus (yes that is the slightly taller, worse one.)  So now let's get to the main draw...

The top half showcases A-Rod and my new favorite player, Simon.  Roddick opened up today with a nice 6 and 4 win over the tricky Nicolas Mahut...and Ginepri fought off Grosjean in three sets, setting up a second round clash between Americans.  They gave Simon the day off thank God, so he hasn't played yet, and Dr. Ivo Karlovic went down swinging in the first round to former top tenner, Nico Lapentti.  That's pretty much it for the top draw, I don't see anyone who is going to stop a Roddick/Simon Semi. (mayyyybe Gilles Muller)  

The bottom half is an all out war.  The talent filled French are everywhere you look in this half.  You have Mathieu, Canas, Querry, Tsonga, Robredo, Benneteau, Stepanek, Gicquel, and Gasquet.  I could see any of those guys making it to the final.  Oh no wait, some of them lost already.  

So with Querrey out, and Gasquet beating a qualifier in a third set breaker, I'm going to go with Tommy"How is he ranked that high for this long" Robredo.  I wouldn't be shocked if Tsonga or Mathieu caught fire.  Maybe the 30-something year old worm(not an insult, its just the dance he does) Radek Stepanek can make some noise.  I'm going to go with a Robredo/Tsonga Semi. 

Well that's pretty much it for Lyon, check that link up above for scores, and we'll see how the draw develops.  Tomorrow I'll preview, and get you up to date on the other two tournaments going on.