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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One more point to set a new record for pico!
Congrats to pico!!!!
SIX games won against Rafa which he’s never done before (except when Rafa was injured and had to retire).
#RafaIsTheNewRusty
He will win this in 2 sets but a disappointing performance… even for a first round this is pretty bad
#Expected
Seven games.
He’s smashed his record to pieces.
The sky is the limit.
pico is playing the match of his life out there!
#MealTicket
tired of expecting better things and getting disappointed. For now, will just have to settle with rafa getting the win. He needs to get some match wins in a row even if that is achieved by winning ugly. Just get the damn wins somehow.
backhand has gone OFF THE BOIL
pico de gallo
#NewBrand
wow…the level he is playing at right now…unbelievable. He is again so confused out there. A consistent hard hitter would have taken him out today…
calm down rafa, calm down.
I didn’t think it was possible to hit a ball so short.
Wouldn’t even have to be that consistent nor hard.
See: pico
pico is the new verdasco
na..pico can’t win this
Magic Pills! Monaco may not win another point.
phew…
stays within striking distance. somehow.
yup…I don’t care…and see, he got the break there. He will win in 2… it will be ugly but for me it is all about getting wins right now….
You said it!
He has to rely on more slices to defend even on clay now..I hope his movement improves as he frees up a bit and relaxes
I will take a win any way I can get it. I cannot pretend that Rafa is playing anywhere near his best.
Disappointing is the word, but somehow not surprising.
Guillermo Vilas in the house. They said the only player to beat Borg at RG.
I think Augusta’s pre-match prayers are jinxing Rafa.
Shhh…Genius at work:
hawkeye63 FEBRUARY 10, 2016 AT 6:17 PM
Rafa over Rafa in two dreadful rusty playing to the lowest common denominator sets losing more than seven games.
Chance that this might not be the case given that it’s Pico, on a layoff even.
Regardless, given that it’s Rafa’s first match since losing to Fernando “new-brand” Verdasco, it won’t be pretty.
Meet the new brand, same as the old brand.
Do ya!
Half-a=Rafa
Verdasco would have won by now.
The players have no fear of Rafa anymore.
Only Rafa fears Rafa.
Meet the new let,
Same as the old let.
Well I just hope that Rafa not comparing pico to Nole.
Don’t you?