Rafael Nadal continue his bid for a sixth Madrid title when he goes up against Diego Schwartzman during third-round action on Thursday. Fellow Canadians Milos Raonic and Denis Shapovalov are also aiming for a place in the quarterfinals.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. (13) Diego Schwartzman
Nadal and Schwartzman will be going head-to-head for the fifth time in their careers when they meet again in round three of the Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday. All four of their previous encounters have gone the way of Nadal, who is 10-1 in total sets. Schwartzman has, however, been competitive at times; including a 7-6(5), 6-3, 7-5 loss at the 2015 U.S. Open and a 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3 setback at this year’s Australian Open.
Taking a set off the Spaniard–as Schwartzman did Down Under–is not something anyone has been able to accomplish in Nadal’s last 48 sets of clay-court tennis dating back to the 2017 French Open. The world No. 1’s current stretch of dominance includes a 10th title at Roland Garros, 11th triumphs in both Monte-Carlo and Barcelona, two Davis Cup wins, and a 6-3, 6-1 beatdown of Gael Monfils on Wednesday. Schwartzman’s clay-court campaign began with early losses in Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, and Munich–where he compiled a combined 1-3 record. But the 16th-ranked Argentine is still in contention for a top 16 seed at the French Open and he has boosted his chances in that department with Madrid victories over Adrian Mannarino and Feliciano Lopez. Schwartzman is not in the kind of peak form necessary to give Nadal a real test–and neither is anyone else, except for perhaps a huge server who can occasionally take the racket out of Nadal’s hands.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games
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Denis Shapovalov vs. Milos Raonic
It will be an all-Canadian affair when Raonic and Shapovalov go head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Thursday. Grass may the preferred surface of the one-time Wimbledon finalist, but he is also quite capable on clay. Raonic, who was one set away from the French Open quarterfinals last spring, is one round away from a third trip to the Madrid quarters following wins this week over Nicolas Kicker and No. 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Shapovalov has already enjoyed a productive week, as well, with defeats of Tennys Sandgren (6-1, 6-4) and Benoit Paire (7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4). The 19-year-old is inexperienced on clay, but the two aforementioned performances were encouraging and with a little bit more success he will be in contention for a seed at Roland Garros (currently 43rd in the world). This, though, is an especially tough test for Shapovalov. Raonic is once again thriving in these Madrid conditions, serving right at 70 percent through two rounds with a total of 29 aces and three double-faults.
Pick: Raonic in 2
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Well Rafa wins his 50th straight set on clay, though not very convincingly.
Diego not playing well for a while now but once he sees Rafa across the net, he starts to play well. Rafa always gives chances to his opponents to play well against him, not wise. There’s something wrong with the way Rafa plays, that he just allows opponents to turn aggressive against him. I rarely see Rafa starts a match being aggressive, and from start to finish staying aggressive. Rafa likes to make life difficult for himself, not only for his opponents.
Rafa had played Diego a few times already, yet he’s still making the mistake of engaging in long rallies with him. Rafa is fond of hitting right back at his opponents and gets into tussles in his matches, instead of hitting to the open court and makes his opponents work (run) to get to the shots. It’s no wonder he has to work so hard to win his matches even though the score line may look misleadingly easy.
At least Rafa managed to get the job done in straights,that’s the good news! I agree that he was way to passive sometimes in the first set,letting Diego dictate from the baseline more times than he should.
To be fair, the way Diego played today, which was very well ( compared to yesterday against Feli), I feel he would beat an on fire Shapo if he instead of Raonic was the one playing against Shapo,
Diego could fight fire with fire and he’s so quick around the court; was able to defend and attack well from both wings and in any direction – CC or DTL.
Definitely Schwartz would have a great shot going against Shapo here,he would frustrate him from the baseline and will force him to do a lot of errors. I mean,even Paire,who’s anything more than a journeyman,had a good chance to take Shapo out.
Shapo’s level,at least on clay,is nowhere near peak Diego.
Rafa is facing tougher competition here. Diego is a good player and can move around the court very well. He was getting the better of Rafa in some of the long rallies.
Rafa is still winning. That is the most important thing. He will need to raise his level of play against Thiem. I thought Rafa served really well and had some great backhands, but made too many errors off the forehand.
That was a harder match than most of us were anticipating.
Exactly. I thought Diego was playing poorly this clay season, losing 6-2, 6-1 to Tsitsipas at Barcelona. He wasn’t impressive against an aging Feli Lopez either but just was grinding to win in three sets when Feli was running out of stream. However, once he saw Rafa across the net, he played easily his best match so far this clay season, unbelievable how Rafa always had to tough it out against eager opponents.
I can’t help but compare it to Fed; Fed would probably stamp his authority earlier in the match and not allowed his opponent any look at a win; Rafa OTOH might gave them a chance for fighting back (or a second wind). It’s probably the difference between an attacking player and a counterpuncher.