Barcelona R3 previews and predictions: Dimitrov vs. Jaziri, Lopez vs. Klizan

Coming off an upset of Novak Djokovic, Martin Klizan will try to continue his Barcelona run on Thursday at the expense of fellow left-hander Feliciano Lopez. Grigor Dimitrov and Malek Jaziri are also aiming for a place in the quarterfinals.

Malek Jaziri vs. (2) Grigor Dimitrov

Dimitrov and Jaziri will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers and for the second time this season when they clash in round three of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Thursday. Their only previous encounter resulted in by far the biggest win of Jaziri’s career, at least according to ranking, as the Tunisian wild card treated the Dubai crowd to a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 first-round upset and parlayed that into a semifinal performance. Jaziri had never previously defeated anyone in the top 10 and had earned only one top-20 victory. The world No. 88, who owns one Challenger title this season, has improved to 11-7 at the ATP level for his 2018 campaign thanks to straight-set Barcelona victories over Tennys Sandgren and lucky loser Ernesto Escobedo.

After enjoying a first-round bye as the second seed, Dimitrov hammered Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday. The fifth-ranked Bulgarian is clearly right back in business following a long week in Monte-Carlo, where he defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and David Goffin before going down to Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. Dimitrov is well-rested and has a slight surface advantage (Jaziri went 0-5 on clay in 2017, all against opponents outside the top 50), so he should cruise into the quarters.

Pick: Dimitrov in 2 losing 7 games or fewer

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(12) Feliciano Lopez vs. (Q) Martin Klizan

Lopez and Klizan will also be squaring off for the second time in their careers and for the second time this season. The two lefties previously faced each other on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam, where Lopez got the job done 6-3, 7-6(4). He may have been expecting to meet Novak Djokovic on Thursday, but Klizan had other ideas when he upset the Serb 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 during second-round action on Wednesday. This has come basically out of nowhere for 140th-ranked Slovak, who had won just a single match at an ATP event in 2018 prior to his arrival in Barcelona–over world No. 1,529 Alexander Donski in Sofia.

While Lopez is preparing for tournament director duties next month in Madrid, his playing days are still going strong. The 36-year-old Spaniard registers at 30th in the rankings and he is a respectable 10-8 this season following a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 second-round win over Dusan Lajovic on Tuesday. Although clay favors Klizan, this is not a good matchup for him; one of Lopez’s most effective shots is his down-the-line slice backhand that will stay low to Klizan’s backhand. Moreover, from a mentality standpoint Klizan is not the most likely candidate to follow up such a big victory with a similar performance 24 hours later.

Pick: Lopez in 3

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