Dominic Thiem and Juan Martin del Potro could potentially be roadblocks in Rafael Nadal’s attempt to clinch a sixth title at the Mutua Madrid Open, which will help him to retain No. 1 in the ATP Rankings. The Spanish superstar, who has reached the Madrid final on nine previous occasions, could meet 2017 runner-up Thiem in the quarter-finals and del Potro in the semi-finals at the Caja Mágica.
Nadal, who has already swept to 11th titles at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (d. Nishikori) and Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (d. Tsitsipas) in recent weeks, is riding a 19-match winning streak on clay and has been drawn to meet Gael Monfils or a qualifier in the second round. The 31-year-old is 45-7 lifetime in Madrid, with title runs in 2008, 2010, 2013-14 and 2017, in addition to runner-up finishes in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2015.
Fourth seed Del Potro, appearing in Madrid for the eighth time, is competing for the first time since John Isner ended his 15-match winning streak in the Miami Open presented by Itau semi-finals. The Argentine, who will play Julien Benneteau or Damir Dzumhur in the second round, captured back-to-back ATP World Tour titles at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel (d. Anderson) and the BNP Paribas Open (d. Federer). He has advanced to the Madrid semi-finals on two occasions in 2009 and 2012.
Fifth seed Thiem, who last year contested four clay-court matches against Nadal during the spring European clay swing (Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros), will be hoping to return to top form, starting with a second-round tie against Mischa Zverev or a qualifier. Three weeks ago, Nadal beat Thiem 6-0, 6-2 in the Monte-Carlo quarter-finals.
Two-time former champion Novak Djokovic, reunited with his long-time coach Marian Vajda for the clay-court swing, will have to be match-sharp at the Mutua Madrid Open when he plays against Kei Nishikori, the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters finalist (l. to Nadal), in the first round. Djokovic leads Nishikori 11-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, but their last red dirt meeting went to three sets at the 2016 Internazionali BNL d’Italia, which Djokovic won 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) for a place in the final.
Tenth seed Djokovic, who captured the 2011 and 2016 Madrid titles, has been drawn in the bottom half of the draw and could potentially meet eighth seed David Goffin in the third round and third seed Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals. After a first-round bye, Goffin will meet Robin Haase or Hyeon Chung, who is through to this week’s BMW Open by FWU semi-finals, while Dimitrov will challenge Milos Raonic or a qualifier in his first match.
Second seed Alexander Zverev, who reached the quarter-finals last year (l. to Cuevas), will play in-form Stefanos Tsitsipas, the recent Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell runner-up (l. to Nadal), or a qualifier. Seventh seed John Isner, winner of his first Masters 1000 crown at the Miami Open presented by Itau, goes up against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or compatriot Ryan Harrison in the second round.
In another interesting first-round clash, 2012 runner-up and No. 14 seed Tomas Berdych squares off against Richard Gasquet, who returned to form last month in Monte-Carlo with a quarter-final run (l. to Zverev 7-5 in the third set). Berdych leads Gasquet 9-7 in their series.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2wc2TqW
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