Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will kick off their Madrid campaigns on Tuesday. They are set for respective meetings with Grigor Dimitrov and Radek Stepanek.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Grigor Dimitrov
Djokovic and Dimitrov will going head-to-head for the third time in their careers and for the second time this season when they collide in round two of the Mutua Madrid Open on Tuesday. Djokovic has won both of their previous encounters in straight sets; 6-3, 6-2 last fall in Shanghai and 7-6(4), 6-1 two months ago at the Indian Wells Masters.
Dimitrov is in the midst of a breakout 2013 campaign that continued on Monday with a straight-set dismissal of wild card Javier Marti. The 21-year-old Bulgarian is 15-9 for the season and he is up to a career-high ranking of No. 28 in the world. Djokovic, coming off a first-round bye, is back in action following a triumph at the Monte-Carlo Masters–where he ended Rafael Nadal’s reign as champion. The top-ranked Serb appears to be back on track following a relatively disappointing stretch at the hard-court Masters events, where he suffered his only two setbacks of the season (to Juan Martin Del Potro in the Indian Wells semifinals and to Tommy Haas in the Miami fourth round). Based on their past history and Djokovic’s return to top form, a straight-setter has to be expected.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
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Radek Stepanek vs. (2) Roger Federer
Stepanek and Federer will be facing each other for the 14th time in their careers on Tuesday. Federer is dominating the head-to-head series 11-2 and he has won 11 of their last 12 meetings after losing their first to Stepanek way back in 2002. Both of Stepanek’s victories have come on clay and Federer leads the series on the slow stuff by a slim margin of 3-2.
The second-ranked Swiss has not played since an injury-plagued loss to Rafael Nadal in the Indian Wells quarterfinals. He skipped both Miami and Monte-Carlo, so this will be Federer’s first match since mid-March. The No. 2 seed, who got an opening-round bye, is 13-4 for the year as he heads into his first clay-court match. Stepanek was sidelined after the Australian Open until Monte-Carlo due to a neck injury. The 34-year-old Czech showed signs of life with a Munich win over Mikhail Youzhny and he improved to 5-5 for the season by easing past Bernard Tomic in straight sets on Sunday.
Both men are rusty, so it is difficult to predict just how competitive Stepanek can make this showdown. The world No. 48 has lost 15 consecutive sets to Federer since his last victory over the 17-time Grand Slam champion back in 2008. That does not bode well for the underdog’s chances.
Pick: Federer in 2
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