Nadal Barcelona

Rafael Nadal Heads to Spain as Barcelona Open Top Seed
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

The Barcelona Open 500 is the ATP’s marquee clay event this week as Rafael Nadal leads the field, joined by Novak Djokovic and other stars of the game. Here is your full preview, with predictions.

Top Half:

Top seed Rafael Nadal will look to extend his winning streak on clay against Andreas Haider-Maurer or Roberto Carballes Baena, he should then get a Monte Carlo final rematch against Kei Nishikori. Nishikori needs to get past Yuichi Sugita or Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to get there. At that third round stage he’s unlikely to prevail against Rafa.

Novak Djokovic won a pair of matches in Monte Carlo and looks focused enough to beat Martin Klizan or Federico Delbonis, then his countryman Dusan Lajovic, or a Spaniard, Pedro Martinez or Feliciano Lopez. I’ll take Djokovic over Lopez in the third round to setup a quarterfinal against Nadal.

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David Goffin and Karen Khachanov should be on a collision course in the third section. Goffin needs to beat Mikhail Kukushkin or Marcel Granollers, while Khachanov will take on Leonardo Mayer or Mischa Zverev. Seemingly over his eye injury, Goffin is the favorite to reach the quarters.

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Hyeon Chung begins his clay season against Bjorn Fratangelo or Alexey Vatutin, he should reach the third round and take on Roberto Bautista Agut. RBA has Tommy Robredo/Ivo Karlovic prior to Chung, I have RBA taking this section.

Bottom Half:

A semifinalist in Monte Carlo, Grigor Dimitrov should edge Gilles Simon (or Ilya Ivashka) before running into Andrey Rublev, or Houston finalist Tennys Sandgren/Malek Jaziri. Rublev isn’t an easy win for Dimitrov but he should reach the quarters.

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Home hero Pablo Carreno Busta will be favored against Nicolas Jarry/Benoit Paire before most likely facing Pablo Cuevas in round 3. Cuevas must get past Ricardo Ojeda and Adrian Mannarino. Either clay court talent could win that match, but I’ll back PCB at home.

Dominic Thiem is playing well and should ease past Joao Sousa/Jaume Munar, then defeat home favorite Fernando Verdasco in round 3. Verdasco faces Guido Pella/Peter Gojowczyk first up.

Diego Schwartzman and Albert Ramos are co-favorites in the final section. Stefanos Tsitsipas would love to spoil the party though. A dark horse for the week, the Greek #1 opens with Corentin Moutet, with Schwartzman to follow. Ramos will take on Rogerio Dutra Silva or Jared Donaldson in round 2. I’ll back Schwartzman to win the section over Ramos.

Predictions

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Quarters
Nadal d. Djokovic
Goffin d. Bautista Agut
Thiem d. Schwartzman
Dimitrov d. Carreno Busta

if anyone is going to beat Rafa on clay it would be Djokovic. I don’t think he’s reached that level post injury though and thus Nadal is the favorite. The other quarterfinals shouldn’t be close, but don’t sleep on Schwartzman or RBA at home.

Semis
Nadal d. Goffin
Thiem d. Dimitrov

Nadal and Thiem should face off in the final, with Nadal walking away a winner, the same outcome as 2017.

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Final
Nadal d. Thiem

ATP Barcelona

Rafael Nadal’s 10th title in Barcelona was special, as it came on a court that was named after him at the start of the tournament this year. Rafa, 29-5 on the season, and now 10-0 on clay, did the double once again in is career, taking Barcelona after taking Monte Carlo the prior week. Nadal hasn’t dropped a set on clay in nine straight matches and rolled past Rogerio Dutra Silva, Kevin Anderson, Hyeon Chung, Horacio Zeballos, and finalist Dominic Thiem beating Thiem 6-4 6-1. Thiem, playing his second final of 2017, was blitzed by Nadal but still claimed a win over world #1 Andy Murray in the semifinals, and also beat Kyle Edmund, Dan Evans, and Yuichi Sugita on the week.

Florin Mergea and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi beat Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya in the doubles final.

ATP Budapest

Lucas Pouille claimed his eighth win in nine matches 6-3 6-1 over qualifier Aljaz Bedene to claim the title in Budapest, his first of 2017, and the second of his career at age 23. Pouille needed three sets against Jiri Vesely in his first match in Hungary, but didn’t look back after that easing past Martin Klizan and Paolo Lorenzi to make the final, before thumping Bedene, who had won a remarkable sixteen straight matches leading into the final. In the end fatigue likely hurt his already limited changes against the talented Frenchman. Bedene beat lucky loser Marius Copil twice in two matches then beat Robin Haase, Ivo Karlovic, and qualifier Laslo Djere without dropping a set.

Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic won the doubles title over Juan Sebastian Cabral and Robert Farah.

2017 ATP Barcelona Preview and Predictions
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

The second clay level 500 of the season is underway in Barcelona with a host of top players competing. Here is your preview with predictions.

Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell
ATP World Tour 500
April 24-30, 2017
Barcelona, Spain
Surface: Clay
Prize Money: €2,324,905

Top Half:

Andy Murray is struggling but he’s never lost to Bernard Tomic (5-0), and Tomic won his first match in months against Dustin Brown in round 1. Murray should also find his way past Feliciano Lopez (or Albert Montanes) in the third round, as this is not the most difficult section with no one else in better form, despite Murray’s current issues. Surprise Monte Carlo finalist Albert Ramos faces young gun Casper Ruud in round 2, Ruud has won three straight matches having come through qualifying, but presuming Ramos is rested enough he should continue his good run of play. Jan-Lennard Struff is also playing well, but I have Roberto Bautista Agut reaching the quarterfinals with wins over Struff and Ramos, before falling to Murray.

A solid clay courter, Dominic Thiem should clear out Dan Evans while Pablo Carreno Busta looks set to end Yuichi Sugita’s remarkable run, as a lucky loser he stunned Richard Gasquet on clay in one of the upsets of the year, and also has a win against Tommy Robredo thus far. Carreno Busta defeated Andreas Seppi already, but Thiem should prove too much in the quarters given the result of the Rio final on clay earlier this year that Thiem won.

Bottom Half:

Benoit Paire and Joao Sousa look set to face off in the bottom half, Paire already beat Marcel Granollers, while Sousa is a reasonable favorite against Horacio Zeballos. Look for Paire to sneak into the quarterfinals and face either Monte Carlo quarterfinalist Pablo Cuevas or semifinalist David Goffin, most likely Goffin. Goffin is in great form and should defeat qualifier Nikolosz Basilashvili, while Cuevas beats Karen Khachanov before falling to Goffin. Goffin is the clear favorite to reach the semis here.

Rafael Nadal will play all of his matches in Barcelona on the court named after him, the nine-time and defending champion of this tournament comes off a title in Monte Carlo on clay, and should ease past Rogerio Dutra Silva in round 2, then defeat Kevin Anderson round 3, after Anderson upset a struggling David Ferrer in round 2, also posting a win over Carlos Berlocq round 1. Casablanca finalist Philipp Kohlschreiber needs to defeat Hyeon Chung before facing off with his countryman Alexander Zverev. The younger Zverev will be the favorite, but Kohli is in good form and I have him falling to Nadal in the quarterfinals.

Dark Horse: Pablo Carreno Busta

PCB has a shot at upsetting Thiem and making a run in the top half section, he’s a home player and clearly has the ability on clay, especially with Gasquet already knocked out, to reach the semis or beyond.

Predictions

Semis
Thiem d. Murray
Nadal d. Goffin

Final
Nadal d. Thiem

Murray’s poor form on clay suggests Thiem has a great shot at making this final, Nadal is the clear favorite to win yet again in Barcelona though, especially after dominating Monte Carlo.