Buenos Aires R2 previews and picks: Nadal vs. Monaco, Ferrer vs. Olivo

Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer will begin their weeks in Buenos Aires on Thursday. The top two seeds and fellow Spaniards are set for respective meetings with Argentines Juan Monaco and Renzo Olivo.

(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Juan Monaco

Nadal will be contesting his first match since losing a five-setter to Fernando Verdasco in round one of the Australian Open when he takes the court at the Argentina Open on Thursday. In his debut at this event in 2005, the current world No. 5 lost in the quarterfinals to Gaston Gaudio. Nadal did not return to Buenos Aires until 10 years later, when he captured the title last season.

Up first for the top-seeded Spaniard this week is an eighth career showdown against his good friend Monaco. Nadal leads the head-to-head series 6-1, including 5-0 on clay. The 14-time major champion has won all of their 12 contested clay-court sets by scores of 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0, 6-4, and 6-1. They have not faced each other since the final of this tournament last season, in part because Monaco missed the latter stages of 2015 with a wrist injury. The 55th-ranked Argentine played for the first time since August when he returned in fine fashion to crush Marco Cecchinato 6-1, 6-3 on Tuesday. That was an ideal start to Monaco’s comeback, but a clay-court test against Nadal will be a swift reality check.

Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 7 games or fewer

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(WC) Renzo Olivo vs. (2) David Ferrer

Ferrer and Olivo will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Thursday. Olivo, a 23-year-old Argentine, has already done well to capitalize on his wild card by beating qualifier Facundo Bagnis 7-6(9), 7-5 in the opening round on Tuesday. In breakout form to start this season, Olivo has climbed to a career-high ranking of No. 151 in the world. He qualified for the Aussie Open and reached the second round before qualifying again last week in Quito and making a run to the quarterfinals.

Ferrer’s 2016 campaign, on the other hand, got off to glaringly inauspicious start. The sixth-ranked Spaniard dropped his Doha opener to Illya Marchenko and lost sets two and three to Jack Sock 6-1, 6-2 in the Auckland semifinals. But he may be back in business following a strong performance in Melbourne, where Ferrer rolled into the quarters without being taken to a single tiebreaker before bowing out in a high-quality four-setter to eventual runner-up Andy Murray. The 33-year-old is 21-4 lifetime in Buenos Aires with three titles. In other words, this will be a good experience for Olivo–but nothing more than that.

Pick: Ferrer in 2 losing seven games or fewer

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