Barcelona R3 previews and picks: Nadal vs. Dodig, Robredo vs. Cilic

Defending champion Rafael Nadal and fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo will continue their Barcelona campaigns on Thursday. They are going up against Ivan Dodig and Marin Cilic, respectively.

(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Ivan Dodig

Nadal and Dodig will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers when they clash in round three of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Thursday afternoon. The head-to-head series stands at 2-1 in Nadal’s favor, with Dodig scoring a 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) upset at the 2011 Montreal Masters. Nadal won their only previous encounter 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals of this same Barcelona event in 2011 and he also prevailed 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 at last summer’s U.S. Open.

The top-ranked Spaniard opened on Wednesday with a 7-6(2), 6-4 defeat of countryman Albert Ramos as he looks to bounce back from a Monte-Carlo quarterfinal loss to David Ferrer. Nadal, who is 24-4 this season, is now 41-1 lifetime in Barcelona with eight titles in nine appearances. Dodig has advanced with victories over Facundo Arguello and Feliciano Lopez. The 37th-ranked Spaniard is still just 7-9 for the year and this is his second tournament in which he has won back-to-back matches. On clay, Dodig does not have much in the tank with which to seriously trouble Nadal.

Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games

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(5) Tommy Robredo vs. (12) Marin Cilic

Robredo and Cilic will be facing each other for the fifth time in their careers and for the second time this spring. The head-to-head series is tied up at 2-2 and they have never met on clay. Their most recent collision came at last month’s Indian Wells Masters, where a red-hot Cilic cruised to a 6-4, 6-3 victory. Prior to that, they had not squared off since 2009.

The 27th-ranked Croat has cooled off just a bit since capturing hard-court titles in Zagreb and Indian Wells, but he is still 24-7 for the year and back up to No. 27 in the world. Cilic opened on Wednesday with a 6-1, 7-6(2) scalp of Andrey Kuznetsov. Robredo advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Marinko Matosevic. The fifth-seeded Spaniard, who has been solid in 2014 but lacks any especially notable result, dropped his Houston opener and lost to Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-3 in the Monte-Carlo third round. Robredo’s tactics of playing an immeasurable distance behind the baseline against Cilic in Indian Wells should work better on clay. At home and on this surface, Robredo should be able to turn this into a baseline dogfight–which favors him.

Pick: Robredo in 3

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