Rafael Nadal is one win away from a second Madrid clay-court title (he also won once on indoor hard courts). Standing in his way on Sunday is an on-fire Stanslas Wawrinka.
Rafael Nadal and Stanislas Wawrinka will be going head-to-head for the ninth time in their careers when they clash in the final of the Mutua Madrid Open on Sunday afternoon. Nadal has won every one of their previous eight encounters, including three on clay. In fact, Wawrinka has never even won a set against the Spaniard; 0-17 lifetime. They most recently faced each other in the quarters of the 2012 Monte-Carlo Masters, with Nadal prevailing 7-5, 6-4.
Wawrinka, however, is arguably playing the best tennis of his career right now–even though he is six spots off his best-ever ranking at No. 15 in the world. The Swiss reached the last eight in Monte-Carlo and he won the title in Oeiras last week. Wawrinka has won nine matches in the last 10 days following Madrid defeats of Marius Copil, Santiago Giraldo, Grigor Dimitrov, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Tomas Berdych. The 15th seeded required three sets to beat Dimitrov, Tsonga, and Berdych.
Nadal has not been entirely dominant since triumphing in Indian Wells, although is still playing relatively well. The fifth-ranked Spaniard lost to Novak Djokovic in the Monte-Carlo final before bouncing back with the Barcelona title one week later. So far in Madrid he has taken out Benoit Paire, Mikhail Youzhny, David Ferrer, and Pablo Andujar–losing one set (and coming within two points of defeat) to Ferrer in the process.
“For sure it’s going to be 100 percent, except my coach,” Wawrinka said of Nadal’s expected crowd support on Sunday. “After a great tournament, to play Rafa on clay, it’s something amazing. I’m going to take that challenge and try to play my best game.”
The underdog will have to do just that, especially against an opponent who is playing at home on his favorite surface. Additionally, their past history is glaringly in Nadal’s favor and the former world No. 1 is also more rested than Wawrinka. While Wawrinka’s backhand is in rare form right now, it is a shot–for any player–that does not match up well with Nadal’s heavy forehand. This will be entertaining, but Wawrinka will be hard-pressed to take it the distance.
Pick: Nadal 6-4, 6-3
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