Rafael Nadal will be back in action at the Cincinnati Masters on Thursday night. Grigor Dimitrov in standing in Nadal’s way of a quarterfinal showdown against either Roger Federer or Tommy Haas.
Rafael Nadal and Grigor Dimitrov will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers and for the second time this season when they square off in round three of the Western & Southern Open on Thursday night. Nadal has won both of their previous encounters in three sets; 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 four years ago on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam and 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 just recently on the clay courts of Monte-Carlo.
The third-ranked Spaniard is in rare form at the moment. Aside from two of the three Grand Slams (missed Australian Open, lost first round of Wimbledon), his 2013 campaign has been just about perfect. Roland Garros, of course, is among his eight titles this season and Nadal improved his record to 49-3 with a 6-2, 6-2 blowout of Benjamin Becker on Wednesday night. That erased any concerns over the quick turnaround in between the Montreal final (Nadal beat Milos Raonic to win the tournament on Sunday) and Cincinnati.
Dimitrov already has two victories under his belt this week and he has not dropped a set. The 29th-ranked Bulgarian ousted Nicolas Almagro 7-6(3), 6-4 then rolled over Brian Baker 6-3, 6-2. Dimitrov, who upset Novak Djokovic in Madrid, is 28-17 for the season.
“He’s a great player; he’s a young player,” Nadal said of the 22-year-old. “He’s really destined to be in the top positions in not a very long period of time. Tomorrow will be a tough match for me, so I have to keep playing this way.”
He doesn’t necessarily have to because more of his current form will undoubtedly result in a straight-set dismissal of Dimitrov just as it would almost anyone else in the tournament. The underdog’s only real chance is for Nadal suffer a lapse in concentration due to either a work overload or the U.S. Open looming on the immediate horizon. While neither is likely, Dimitrov at least has the talent to be competitive for a third straight time against the 2013 ATP race leader.
Pick: Nadal 7-6(5), 6-4
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