Rafael Nadal faces a difficult path ahead of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell if he wants to lift a record extension of the 12th trophy. Nine players in the Top 20 of the FedEx ATP rankings are on the ATP 500 clay court tournament.
Nadal avoided his Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters winner, Russian Andrey Rublev, who appeared in the bottom half of the 48 players tied with Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas. But the Spanish superstar may have to overcome like David Goffin, Karen Khachanov, Diego Schwartzman, Daniel Evans, Fabio Fognini or Pablo Carreno Busta to reach the final.
The 34-year-old Nadal, who has a 61-4 match record in Barcelona since making his tournament in 2003, will start his fight against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino or a qualifying match. Nadal lifted the Barcelona trophy in 2005-09, 2011-13 and 2016-18.
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The second-seeded Tsitsipas, who beat Evans on Saturday in Monte-Carlo for a spot in his third ATP Masters 1000 final, could face Rublev in the semifinals of Barcelona. The pair meet on Saturday for the seventh time in their ATP Head2Head series in the Monte-Carlo final.
Tsitsipas, who lost his first ATP final to Nadal in Barcelona three years ago in Barcelona, will start his fight against Thiago Monteiro or Spanish Jaume Munar. Rublev, who beat Nadal 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the semifinals of Monte-Carlo on Friday and has an ATP tour’s best 24-4 match record in 2021, will face France’s Benoit Paire. to say. or a thinning out in his first game. Rublev could possibly meet number 15-seeded Casper Ruud, the player he beat in the semifinals of Monte-Carlo in the third round.
Italian savage Lorenzo Musetti, the youngest player in the Top 100, faces veteran Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the first round. The winner will advance to a second-round clash with No. 10 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, coached by Toni Nadal. The loaded section also features seventh-seeded Denis Shapovalov, who first meets France’s Jeremy Chardy or Georgia’s Qatar ExxonMobil Open title runner-up Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Jannik Sinner, who is close to breaking into the Top 20 of the FedEx ATP rankings after a strong start to the year that includes winning the Great Ocean Road Open title (d. Travaglia), also appears in the bottom half of the draw and can meet fifth seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round.
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The 17-year-old Carlos Alcaraz, who recently reached the AnyTech365 Andalucia Open semifinals (l. To Munar), plays American Frances Tiafoe in the top half of the draw with fourth-seeded Schwartzman an opponent in the second round.
Elsewhere, Kei Nishikori, the 2014 and 2015 Barcelona champion who continues his return from injury, faces Guido Pella in the first round. He could be a potential opponent of the third round for Nadal.