Time for the first clay court tournament of the year. Anyone not intending on being a serious contender at the two hard court Masters tournaments in March is welcome to show up. There is a real division on tour between those players who excel on hard courts versus those who excel on the clay courts. There are very few players who can do both. Here is a breakdown of what we can expect in this week's tournament in Chile.

Top Half:

The home town favourite and number one seed Fernando Gonzalez will be hard pressed to taste success this week. He has won here before (2002 and 2004), and reached the final in 2005. But Gonzo has been so erratic the past couple of year's that it is really hard predict when he will reach that kind of success again. He won one clay court Masters event in Rome a year ago, so the possibility does exist for some victories on the dirt. This is a good opportunity on home soil to turn around his shaky play of late and build some confidence for 2008.

My favourite to come through to the semi's with Gonzo is Jose Acasuso. He won the event in 2006 and is always a threat on clay. A wild card pick in this section of the draw would be former French Open finalist Guillermo Coria. We haven't heard his name in the news in quite some time, yet he was just a couple of years ago one of the top clay court players on tour. With only two matches under his belt in 2007 (both losses) our expectations are low for Coria. Still, it will be interesting to see if he can resurect his career. He won this very tournament himself back in 2001.

Bottom Half:

My money is on Juan Monaco to prevail in this section of the draw. Not as many serious clay court foes lurking in the bottom half. He was the winner of three clay court titles in 2007 and certainly has the confidence and experience in this type of setting to have some success. A far-fetched wild card pick in this section of the draw would be Gaston Gaudio. You would think a player of his experience would have a good chance in a weaker draw such as this, however over the past year Gaudio has proven to be a complete disaster on any surface. I expect him to go down in straight sets in the first round given his recent adventures on the challenger circuit. Still, the talent is there somewhere.