Ricky’s picks for this week’s ATP tournaments in Adelaide and Auckland

The Australian Open is just a week away, but there are two more ATP tournaments on the schedule before we can turn our full attention to Melbourne. Hard-court 250 events are taking place in Adelaide and Auckland, where Tommy Paul, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Ben Shelton, Gael Monfils. and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard are among those in action.

Here are my picks for the two tournaments.

Adelaide International

Where: Adelaide, Australia  
Prize money: $766,290 
Top seed: Tommy Paul  
Defending champion: Jiri Lehecka 

No players from the host nation are seeded at the penultimate tournament of the Australian summer, but there are five Aussies in the draw–including a quartet in the bottom half. Among them are Thanasi Kokkinakis, who finished runner-up in Adelaide in 2022 and is also a two-time semifinalist in this city. He will kick off his campaign against Yoshihito Nishioka before potentially running into Sebastian Korda in the last eight and either Jiri Lehecka or Alexander Bublik in the semifinals. 

Paul, the No. 1 seed, is in a more difficult top half of the bracket–which is also home to Auger-Aliassime, Brandon Nakashima, Denis Shapovalov, and Aussie Aleksandar Vukic. Originally scheduled to face his fellow Canadian in round one, Auger-Aliassime now has a bye where Tomas Machac had been in the draw (Machac withdrew on Sunday). Shapovalov is now matched up with Zhizhen Zhang and could face Auger-Aliassime in the quarters.

Quarterfinal picks: Tommy Paul over Brandon Nakashima, Felix Auger-Aliassime over Denis Shapovalov, Jiri Lehecka over Christopher O’Connell, and Roberto Bautist Agut over Thanasi Kokkinakis 

Semifinals: Paul over Auger-Aliassime and Bautista Agut over Lehecka 

Final: Paul over Bautista Agut 

ASB Classic

Where: Auckland, New Zealand   
Prize money: $766,290 
Top seed: Ben Shelton  
Defending champion: Alejandro Tabilo 

Shelton may be the No. 1 seed in Auckland, but he finds himself with a tough bracket. The big-serving American’s opening match could come against fellow rising star Jakub Mensik prior to a potential date with Brisbane semifinalist Reilly Opelka. Francisco Cerundolo and Flavio Cobolli are also in the top half of the draw.

Mpetshi Perricard and Monfils headlined the bottom half, where Alejandro Tabilo and Sebastian Baez are the seeded players with byes. Tabilo is the defending champion, but neither he nor Baez will strike fear into any opponent. Mpetshi Perricard has to be considered the favorite to reach the final, although unseeded floaters Gabriel Diallo and Lorenzo Sonego are also ones to watch.

Quarterfinal picks: Ben Shelton over Nuno Borges, Flavio Cobolli over Lucas Pouille, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard over Cameron Norrie, and Gabriel Diallo over Alejandro Tabilo 

Semifinals: Cobolli over Shelton and Diallo over Mpetshi Perricard 

Final: Cobolli over Diallo 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.