ATP Barcelona: home game start for Nadal
Rafael Nadal intervenes in the ATP Tour 500 tournament today. At the tournament in Catalonia, the world ranking second with Argentinian Leonardo Mayer (ATP 63) is expected to be an easy opponent (12.30 p.m. LIVE on SKY and in our live scores ).
by Robert M. Frank
last edit: Apr 24, 2019, 09:18 am
The Spaniard contests the second game of the day (not before 12.30 p.m.) on the center court named after him "Rafa Nadal". The 32-year-old clay court specialist is likely to have already digested the bitter final defeat at the Masters in Monte Carlo against Fabio Fognini (ATP 12) a few days ago. The left-hander should again triumph against the Argentinian as usual as a favorite. In his five previous duels against the 31-year-old from Buenos Aires, the top seeded Nadal in Barcelona has never lost. With the exception of the duel in 2017 at the US Open, the 80-time ATP tournament winner has not yet given a set.
In addition to Nadal's kick-off in Barcelona, on the fifth day of the ATP clay court tournament endowed with 2.6 million euros, further matches by top seeded players are waiting. While the Canadian Denis Shapovalov (ATP 20) is playing the last game of the day on the center court against the Chilean Christian Garin (ATP 48), one match after the other follows on the “Manuel Orantes” course. The last great Monte Carlo semi-finalist Daniil Medvedev (ATP 14) starts with the game against Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ATP 83). This match is followed by appearances by Fognini (against Nicola Kuhn / ATP 276) and Karen Khachanov (ATP13), who faces Guido Pella (ATP 28).