As of this writing, Pospisil is already past the first round thanks to a 7-5, 6-2 win over wildcard Tallon Griekspoor. It’ll get tougher for Pospisil moving forward as he awaits the winner of Alexandr Dolgopolov and Steve Darcis for his second round assignment. He’s also in the same bracket as top seed as Marin Cilic. Under new coach in Mark Woodforde, though, Pospisil appears to be trending upwards this year.
He bagged a win over a top 10 player for the first time since 2014 when he sent shockwaves across the California by taking down world no. 1 Andy Murray in the second round of the 1000 BNP Paribas Open back in March. Pospisil is undefeated on grass so far this 2017 with a 3-0 record on the surface.
Mikhail Youzhny
Youzhny’s best days are far behind him. Once a top 10 player, the 34-year-old Russian is now ranked a modest 86th in the world. Even in his prime, Youzhny’s often regarded as a second-tier player, who isn’t bad enough to be disregarded but not that great either to be considered a raging favorite in major tournaments. The best he’s gone in a Grand Slam event was a trio of quarterfinal appearances in the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon. Still, Youzhny can be worth a look at the Ricoh Open, a not so glamorous tournament that a veteran like him could definitely top.
Evgeny Donskoy
Another Russian in Evgeny Donskoy could surprise folks at the Ricoh Open. The 27-year-old didn’t register even a light ripple in his last outing, getting bounced right in the very first round of the French Open by Viktor Troicki. That doesn’t tell the whole story of how venomous Donskoy could be. It wasn’t long ago when Donskoy upset the legendary Roger Federer in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championship last March.
