Rising star Grigor Dimitrov heads a strong field for this week's Sarajevo challenger.
With the tennis elite heading off to California for the first Masters Series event of the year in Indian Wells, the indoor specialists have to drop down to the challenger circuit for the next month before the tour moves exclusively outdoors. As a result this week's Sarajevo field is quite strong.
Dimitrov is the star name in the field. The Bulgarian teenager is at a career high ranking of 78 and cruised to the Cherbourg title last week.
Billed by some as 'the next Federer', the Bulgarian has his fiery side and things boiled over at the Helsinki challenger back in November when angered by some contentious decisions, he assaulted the umpire after the match. Dimitrov has since apologised and paid a hefty fine and this year he's been letting his tennis do the talking so far. He had an impressive Aussie Open, qualifying and beating Andrey Golubev en route in round two and he should end the year in the top 50.
However, watch out for Dmitry Tursunov. The Russian is probably the favourite for this title after an impressive week in Marseille last month which saw him beat some big names en route to the last four and he looks on course to get back to where his talent belongs.
At this level, Nicolas Mahut is one of the best exponents of indoor tennis around. The Frenchman made the Cherbourg final and picked up a challenger title in Italy at the end of January. It will be no surprise if he ends up battling it out with Dimitrov in the final again this week.
Keep an eye out for the likes of Karol Beck (plays Dimitrov in round one) and Andreas Beck as well, both former top 100 players.
