Four in-form players will be showcasing their talents late in the day on Tuesday in Madrid. Stanislas Wawrinka is going up against Dominic Thiem and Kei Nishikori is facing Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
(Q) Dominic Thiem vs. (3) Stanislas Wawrinka
Wawrinka is No. 1 in the 2014 ATP points race heading into his first match at the Mutua Madrid Open on Tuesday, and why not? The third-ranked Swiss has won more than half of the tournaments in which he has participated (three for five), having triumphed in Chennai, at the Australian Open, and in Monte-Carlo to kick off his clay-court swing in style.
Up first for Wawrinka in Madrid is a red-hot Thiem, who successfully qualified over the weekend for his seventh qualification already this season. The 20-year-old Austrian also has eight ATP-level, main-draw victories in 2014 and he is up to a career-high ranking of No. 70 in the world. He took care of Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-2 on Monday. Thiem has the talent and big game to trouble the best players in the world, but Wawrinka will likely have too much experience–especially on clay.
Pick: Wawrinka in 3
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(WC) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. (10) Kei Nishikori
Nishikori and Garcia-Lopez will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers and for the first time in six years when they meet on Tuesday. Their only previous encounter came at the 2008 hard-court event in Tokyo, where Nishikori had home-court advantage and prevailed 6-4, 6-4.
Both men are in outstanding form right now. Nishikori is an amazing 23-4 this season with titles in Memphis and Barcelona to go along with a semifinal showing in Miami. Garcia-Lopez, who is 17-10, began his clay-court swing with a title in Casablanca and a quarterfinal performance in Monte-Carlo. The Spaniard opened in Madrid by taking out Pablo Andujar in three sets, while Japan’s top player cruised past Ivan Dodig 6-4, 6-4.
Pick: Nishikori in 2
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