RICKY REPORTS IN ON NADAL, FERRER, AND NISHIKORI WHO HEADLINE THE WEEK IN BARCELONA

Written by: Staff on 19th April 2015

RICKY REPORTS IN ON NADAL, FERRER, AND NISHIKORI WHO HEADLINE THE WEEK IN BARCELONA

epa04665464 David Ferrer of Spain in action against Bernard Tomic of Australia during their third round match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA, 16 March 2015. EPA/MICHAEL NELSON |

Nadal, Ferrer, and Nishikori headline the week in Barcelona

By Ricky Dimon

Rafael Nadal will be looking to get back on track when he resumes his clay-court spring this week at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. That is exactly what Nadal managed to do in 2013, when he lost the Monte-Carlo final to Novak Djokovic then captured the Barcelona title without dropping a single set. Last year, though, he fell in the quarterfinals of both events.

Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their semi final match at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tennis tournament in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, 18 April 2015. EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER

Nadal and David Ferrer can’t seem to avoid each other in draws and now they find themselves on the same side of the Barcelona bracket. But neither Spaniard will be looking ahead to the semifinals following disastrous tournament last year. Ferrer lost his opening match to Teymuraz Gabashvili and Nadal was upset by Nicolas Almagro in the quarters. The former world No. 1 could open with Almagro this time around before a possible date with either Fabio Fognini or Fernando Verdasco in the third round.

Ferrer has a much, much friendlier path. Nick Kyrgios, who suffered a foot injury in Miami, is Ferrer’s nearest seed. None of the 33-year-old’s potential quarterfinal opponents (Ernests Gulbis, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Benoit Paire) looks dangerous right now.

The top half will be somewhat forgotten, although it could feature a rematch of last season’s final (Kei Nishikori vs. Santiago Giraldo) as early as the third round. Giraldo may be hard-pressed just to make it that far, because he is likely to face an in-form Alexandr Dolgopolov right off the bat. Dolgopolov has successfully recovered from injury, which is what Marin Cilic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are slowing trying to accomplish. Cilic, who awaits either Dominic Thiem or Victor Erstrella Burgos, is on a collision course with Tsonga for the quarterfinals.

Kei Nishikori of Japan in action during his fourth round match against Feliciano Lopez of Spain at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA, 18 March 2015. EPA/PAUL BUCK

While Nadal, Ferrer, and Nishikori will snag headlines in Barcelona, a solid field in Bucharest includes Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils, and Ivo Karlovic.

Like the bottom half in Barcelona, the top side in Bucharest is far more intriguing. Janko Tipsarevic is back for his second tournament after returning from more than a year away from tennis. The Serb will go up against a qualifier and with a win would run into Simon. Countryman Viktor Troicki is in the same quarter, while the second section includes Karlovic, Sergiy Stakhovsky, and Borna Coric. Stakhovsky and Coric will do battle in arguably the most enticing first-round matchup.

Monfils has a more favorable draw in the lower have and should take care of business en route to the final. But “should” is far from “will” for the mercurial Monfils, who was once again hit-or-miss in Monte-Carlo. The Frenchman destroyed Grigor Dimitrov and upset Roger Federer only to get blown out by Tomas Berdych in the last four. Potential roadblocks for Monfils might come in the form of Simone Bolelli, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Lukas Rosol, or a red-hot Andreas Haider-Maurer.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Atp, Barcelona, David Ferrer, Kei Nishikori, Rafael Nadal, Ricky Dimon, Tennis

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10sBalls_com says:

April 19, 2015 at 6:49 pm

-@Dimonator REPORTS IN ON @RafaelNadal, @DavidFerrer87 AND @keinishikori WHO HEADLINE THE WEEK IN #BARCELONA- http://t.co/H4DrkEm7q0 #tennis