ATP - Barcelona Friday Preview

Nadal Rafael (ESP) vs. Monfils Gael (FRA)

In one of the more interesting matches (1) Rafael Nadal of Spain faces Frenchman (7) Gael Monfils who showed (9) Richard Gasquet the exits in the third round. Nadal stomped on Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-3, 6-1 to advance while Monfils won the battle of the Frenchmen 6-4, 7-6(7). The Spaniard won nine of the last 10 games to improve his Barcelona record to 28-1 in singles play. You can't circulate the professional tennis world to find two guys more willing to try no matter the score. Nadal doesn't ever think he will lose while Monfils arguably plays each point the hardest of anyone on the ATP Tour. The two men collide for the ninth time. Nadal has dominated Monfils 7-1 as the Frenchman has only won three sets all-time against the Spaniard. Seven of the meetings have been straight-setters with Monfils getting one of those. At the 2009 United States Open Nadal dropped an opening-set tiebreaker, but then rolled 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 to victory. The two clay-court encounters are the two most telling matchups of the series. Nadal lost five and four games to Monfils. One meeting was in 2005 when the Spaniard was just stepping on the scene of men's tennis. Seven years later Nadal chases his sixth Barcelona title. It may have been seven, but the Spaniard didn't play here last year. As much as I'd like to see Monfils pull the upset, history shows you don't bet against Nadal on clay and with their head-to-head on clay clearly one-sided I am going to stay in the No. 1's corner for another day.

Melzer Jurgen (AUT) vs. Ferrer David (ESP)
On a gusting wind Spaniard David Ferrer managed to handle easily Romanian Victor Hanescu who started very solid but finished poorly.

Ferrer impressed on court, his serve entered during the match and adapted quickly to windy conditions controlling and maneuvering the ball around. He will meet Melzer who despite some injury clouds continues to win. He started slowly and was easily down but he managed to level the score to force a tie-break but still lost the opening set. But he kept his game in the next two sets to advance further, hours after that he played in doubles and lost the match. Conditions are slow today in Barcelona which will favor Ferrer, nothing changes since their meetings in Monte Carlo, only that the Austrian looks slight tired, so look for Ferrer to win this one.

Lopez Feliciano (ESP) vs. Simon Greul (GER)
After four occasions lost to advance in quarter-finals in Barcelona, the Spaniard Feliciano Lopez rose above the opportunity to play against Kei Nishikori and won the match behind a solid serve. He won 73% points behind the serve but he was poor on retrieving but he was solid on the ground to resist to the tough Japanese defensive. He met Simon Greul who continues to surprise here. The German was solid behind the serve in a match were rallies were and played some aggressive tennis in key moments. They never faced before and Lopez hasn’t an easy match but he likes here and he has the opportunity to make semi-finals here and we see Lopez as the likely winner but is hard to back him convincingly as the odds are low.

Almagro Nicolas (ESP) vs. Ferrero Juan Carlos (ESP)
The Spaniard Nicolas Almagro rose above his occasion and behind a solid display on court he managed to win against Davydenko and entered in Top 10. He said that has achieved "maturity" and "regularity" that required him to be among the top ten. The Russian didn’t make a poor match but was the Almagro who changed the pace well coming with the best shots in key moments, who resisted well in long rallies creating angles in his shots. He has the chance to advance even further as he will meet his compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero who had a tough match of almost three hours but with his better experience he managed to win the match that looked almost lost in some moments. Ferrero made a lot of errors on court, he saved 13 break points from 20 and if Almagro will play his same high tennis he will have the upper hand, the only set back that we see is Almagro’s happiness to enter in top ten, he said that “I’m on cloud” after the match but Almagro should win this comfortable.