The ATP Challenger Tour Finals kick off on Wednesday in San Paulo with eight of the best in 2011 vying for the inaugural year-end crown.
It's the first time ever that the challenger tour has had an end of season extravaganza but the ATP has decided its time that this tier of the tennis circuit gets some much needed publicity and they've found a ready host for the event in San Paulo.
The tournament favourite will be world number 38 Thomaz Bellucci who received a wildcard to bring the local fans in. Bellucci enjoyed some great results on the clay earlier this season, reaching the Madrid Masters semi-finals but he's done little since and on a medium paced hard court, success for the Brazilian is far from a certainty.
Bellucci is in the Grupo Verde with Martin Klizan, Andreas Beck and Bobby Reynolds. Beck and Reynolds have both been ranked much higher in the past while Klizan's on his way up. The Slovak smashed through into the top 100 back in the summer after some incredible consistency in the Italian challengers but he's at his best on clay. Beck has finished the year very strongly so expect to see him make the semis with Bellucci.
Grupo Amarelo features Dudi Sela, Rui Machado, Cedrik-Marcel Stebe and Matthias Bachinger.
On paper Sela is the man to watch, he's been as high as 29 in the rankings and won 3 back to back challengers from May-June. However he's achieved little since, losing first round in Ortisei last week. Machado's relentless consistency on the clay has seen him reach 74 in the rankings and he comes into this event with the best preparation having spent the past month in South America which should stand him in very good stead.
Expect to see Bellucci, Beck, Sela and Machado make up the last four but despite being ranked over 30 places higher than the rest of the field, don't expect Bellucci to win. Recent form counts for a lot at this level and Beck and Machado are the men with all the confidence right now.
