Australian Open Wildcard Playoff Preview

At Life Time Fitness in Norcross, Georgia (close to Atlanta) 8 Men and 8 Women will be looking to win this title to earn themselves a spot in the main draw of the singles at 2014's Australian Open in January. For the other 7, they will most likely either play the qualifying draw their or they will stay in the US to play Futures tournaments in January. The tournament runs tomorrow through Sunday. Here are the players in order of seed (with current singles ranking/college).

1. Denis Kudla, 114, N/A
2. Rhyne Williams, 130, Tennessee
3. Steve Johnson, 156, USC
4. Tennys Sandgren, 183, Tennessee
5. Austin Krajicek, 241, Texas A&M
6. Bjorn Fratangelo, 304, N/A
7. Chase Buchanan, 306, Ohio State
8. Jarmere Jenkins, 341, Virginia

In the first round, Kudla will play Jenkins, Williams will play Buchanan, Johnson will play Fratenjelo, and Sandgren will play Krajicek.

Rhyne Williams is the defending champion of this event and nearly won his first round match last year, losing to German Florian Mayer in 5 sets. I am an Ohio State fan so I am of course pulling for Chase Buchanan to win this event, but here are my first round picks:

Kudla def. Jenkins
Williams def. Buchanan
Johnson def. Fratangelo
Sandgren def. Krajicek

Yes I know, all of the higher seeded players winning. But from there, I think Denis Kudla is the most vulnerable to lose in the first round after struggling at the end of 2013. As the 4 seed, I also think Tennys Sandgren has big firepower and has a good shot to win this event. I don't think Krajicek or Fratangelo will make much noise at this event, as I would say Buchanan and Jenkins are the better players, but with drawing the top 2 seeds it will be tough for them to win a round here. My favorite for this tournament is Rhyne Williams. I think Sandgren and Kudla will be the biggest threats to Williams trying to defend his title but I would say he is my favorite to win.