Ricky’s Tennis Preview and Picks for the Mifel Open in Los Cabos, Start of Summer Hard Courts

By Ricky Dimon

The Mifel Open is not a part of the official U.S. Open Series, but the Mexican-based tournament does begin the summer hard-court swing. This stretch of tennis also includes Atlanta, Washington, D.C., San Jose, the Rogers Cup, Cincinnati, and Winston-Salem (plus the Olympics are next week, as well).

For now, we won’t get caught looking ahead on what is a busy summer schedule. For now it’s all about Los Cabos, where in-form lefty Cameron Norrie is the top seed ahead of Americans John Isner, Taylor Fritz, and Sam Querrey.

Mifel Open

Where: Los Cabos, Mexico
Surface: Hard
Points: 250
Prize Money: $598, 545

Top seed: Cameron Norrie
2019 champion: Diego Schwartzman (not playing)

Draw analysis: Norrie may be a somewhat surprising No. 1 seed, but to say it is well-deserved would be a gross understatement. The 25-year-old is up to No. 30 in the world and he is 15th in the race to Turin. He has reached three finals (Estoril, Turin, and Queen’s Club) to go along with a trio of third-round Grand Slam performances. Norrie should not have any trouble reaching the Los Cabos quarterfinals or even the semis, although Mackenzie McDonald could present a relatively tough test in the last eight. Fritz, who has played doubles with Norrie in the past, is a likely semifinal opponent for the Brit.

A slightly deeper bottom half of the bracket includes Isner, Querrey, and Newport semifinalist Jordan Thompson. Up first for Thompson is Ivo Karlovic, who won a match last week in Newport at 42 years old. The winner of a first-round showdown between Andreas Seppi and Alex Bolt may be able to do some damage in Los Cabos. A matchup featuring former college stars Brandon Nakashima and J.J. Wolf is also one to watch.

Quarterfinal predictions: Cameron Norrie over Mackenzie McDonald, Taylor Fritz over Yasutaka Uchiyama, Jordan Thompson over Brandon Nakashima, and John Isner over Alex Bolt

Semifinals: Norrie over Fritz and Thompson over Isner

Final: Norrie over Thompson

Ricky contributes to10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.