Familiar foes Roberto Bautista Agut and Jannik Sinner will battle for a quarterfinal spot in Barcelona on Thursday. Meanwhile, Monte-Carlo champion Stefanos Tsitsipas is back in action against Alex de Minaur.
(5) Roberto Bautista Agut vs. (11) Jannik Sinner
Bautista Agut and Sinner will be facing each other for the third time in their careers and for the third time already this spring when they meet again in round three of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Wednesday. Sinner has won both of their previous encounters; 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in Dubai and 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 shortly thereafter in Miami. The 19-year-old Italian eventually finished runner-up to Hubert Hurkacz at that Masters 1000 tournament, highlighting what has been an outstanding run of form. Sinner improved to 16-6 in 2021 when he defeated Egor Gerasimov 6-3, 6-2 during second-round action on Tuesday.
Making similarly routine work of his Barcelona opener, Bautista Agut erased fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-4, 6-0. The world No. 11 is 11-4 in his last 15 matches and he is coming off a decent performance in Monte-Carlo, where he won two matches and then succumbed to eventual champion Andrey Rublev 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-3 in one of the best matches of the season so far. It is never easy to beat a player like Bautista Agut three times in a row, and the veteran is playing well enough to exact revenge on his much younger opponent.
Pick: Bautista Agut in 3
(14) Alex de Minaur vs. (2) Stefanos Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas has always said that clay is his favorite surface, and he has the results to back it up. The fifth-ranked Greek upset Rafael Nadal en route to the 2019 Madrid final, was one set away from the French Open title match in 2020, and he triumphed at a Masters 1000 event for the first time in his career last week in Monte-Carlo. Tsitsipas improved to 23-5 this season with a 6-0, 6-2 rout of dangerous clay-courter Jaume Munar on Wednesday.
Up next for the 22-year-old is a fifth career ATP-level meeting with de Minaur, who trails the head-to-head series 4-0 (6-1 overall). They have never squared off on clay, a surface that bodes even worse for de Minaur’s chances than either hard courts or grass. The 25th-ranked Aussie’s form isn’t particularly encouraging, either. He beat fellow clay-court novice Alexander Bublik in the Barcelona second round, but prior to that he had been on a four-match losing streak. Count on Tsitsipas rolling in easy straight sets.
Pick: Tsitsipas in 2
WWW?
RBA in 2; tpas in 2.
Erm, Rublev was not the champion of Monte Carlo …
I admit to feeling a nagging bit of childish resentment toward King Arthur for beating Ruby in that Monte Carlo final. 🙈 Both were equally worthy.
I wanted to pick Sinner to go far and even beat Rublev, but for the fact he had to beat BA again, this time on home soil.
Tsitsipas in 2
Sinner in 3.