Rafael Nadal will kick off his Madrid title defense on Wednesday against Juan Monaco. Andy Murray and Nicolas Almagro are also looking for a place in the second round.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Juan Monaco
Nadal will be hoping to right the ship when he takes the court at the Mutua Madrid Open on Wednesday afternoon. The world No. 1 failed to advance past the quarterfinals in either one of his first two events of the current clay-court swing. He lost to David Ferrer in Monte-Carlo and to Nicolas Almagro in Barcelona. Nadal is trying to turn things around at a tournament he won last year while taking 10 of 11 sets, including nine no closer than 6-4.
Up first for Nadal on Wednesday is a sixth career meeting with Monaco, against whom the Spaniard is 4-1 lifetime. They have faced each other four times on clay and Nadal has won all of those encounters–most recently 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 in the fourth round of the 2012 French Open. Monaco, whose only victory in the series came via retirement at the 2007 Cincinnati event, is a modest 5-8 this season. The 30-year-old Argentine defeated Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 6-3 in the Madrid opening round. Nadal may not be at his very best right now, but he should still have way too much for Monaco on this surface.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 7 games or fewer
[polldaddy poll=8027117]
Nicolas Almagro vs. (7) Andy Murray
Almagro and Murray will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers on Wednesday. Murray leads the head-to-head series 3-1, but Almagro won their only previous clay-court showdown 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-5 at the 2008 French Open. Murray has prevailed twice on hard courts and once on grass, the latter via a 6-4, 6-1 decision at the 2012 London Olympics.
Still in search of his first title in 2014, Murray is slowly making his way back from offseason back surgery. The eighth-ranked Scot has not yet reached a final this year and he has only progressed past the quarterfinals once (lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the Acapulco semis). Murray has not played since last month’s Davis Cup action, when he went 1-1 on the clay courts of Italy with a win over Andreas Seppi and a routine loss to Fabio Fognini. With home-court advantage and an edge on clay, Almagro really should not be the underdog in this one.
Pick: Almagro in 3
[polldaddy poll=8027116]
Leave a Reply